A Once-More Chance
by I-KFantasy
Summary: This is the story of The Once-ler's second chance of living life. There are times of happiness, and then times of sadness. There will be moments where you will laugh or cry, but there is one thing Once-ler larns in the harshest way possible; You can't run and hide from the past forever. Rated M for mild/strong adult themes taking place in later chapters just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1: Sap Pancakes for breakfast!

Chapter 1

Thneedville. A city they say that was PLASTIC and FAKE. And the citizens of Thneedville LIKED IT that way! Until recently, when young Ted Wiggins, brought to the small town a very special thing.  
The last truffula seed. But that was over three years ago. Now the small town couldn't have been in better off shape. The air was clean, the grass was growing green and tall, and little truffula trees grew all around, even as far out as to the lerkim where The Once-ler lived.  
O'Hare hadn't come back to town since the day he was rocketed out, and all the manufactured trees  
were being replaced with the baby sprouts. They grew remarkably fast so they wouldn't be babies for much longer.  
But this is all besides the point. Everyone loves a good little background check, but...the REAL STORY is what pulls you in. And in this case...our story starts off on a clear spring night. It was close to midnight, that The Lorax had sneaked into town.

_'What was he doing there?'_ you may ask. Well it's not hard to explain.  
To the first truffula tree planted he went. His short stubby legs carried himself to the center of town with something in his hand, a determined expression on his face.  
To the now grown tall truffula tree he went, standing in front of it and slowly smiling as he looked up at it. He stole a few glances around himself. He suddenly jabbed something into the trunk of the tree, wincing a little as he did. He patted the trunk with a sad sigh as he did. What he jabbed into the tree...was a sap collector. A little vial was attached to the end to catch the sap.  
You see, you may we wondering WHY The Lorax was here, and why he jabbed the poor young truffula tree. It's a simple answer actually. To get sap. Why he had to get the sap, that's another story.  
You see, the sap was special. It was a special kind of sap that did a number of special things. And The Lorax had a plan to use it on a special certain person. To whom it was for, one could guess. As to what is could do, anyone's guess was as good as a small child's.  
The vial had finally filled with sap and The Lorax pulled out the sap collector, patting the tree again and quickly hurrying off out the gates of the city. What a strange little forest guardian he is. Why...I say we follow him? What do you think?

At the tall lerkim that morning, Once-ler was already up and about tending to the tiny truffula sprouts. The old hermit smiled brightly as he watered the little things, pleased with how much they had already grown. But a small frown of confusion spread across his face under his bushy and grey mustache as he turned his head to look over at the front door. He stared at it for a moment and rolled his eyes with a small laugh. One of the reasons why The Once-ler was outside SO EARLY in the morning was because of the furry meatloaf. The Lorax had kicked him out of the house for an hour or two, or as the speaker for the trees put it; "Go and check up on the truffulas, Beanpole! I'll make ya some breakfast!"  
The idea of The Lorax making breakfast almost scared Once-ler a little. Especially since the old man was sternly given an excuse to be kicked out of the house and stay outside while he cooked. What in the _world_ was that little creature UP TO..?  
It wasn't long after these thoughts plagued the old mans mind did the furry meatloaf himself call out for Once-ler, claiming that breakfast was ready with an all too cheery voice.  
"What in the WORLD is he UP TO...?" The Once-ler pondered to himself again as he smiled a little and made his way to the door of the lerkim and let himself inside. "So what did ya make?" He asked The Lorax as he peered into the kitchen and sat down at the table.  
The Lorax turned around from the stove and grinned as he held a plate of pancakes in his hand.

"Pancakes!" He proclaimed with a laugh afterwards, walking down the step stool that he used to get to the stove and over to Once-ler.  
"You made _PANCAKES_? _YOU_? Mr._The-Lorax-cooks-nothing-for-nobody_?" Once-ler said playfully and teasingly poked at the forest guardian's belly before taking the plate in his hands. "You didn't have to make pancakes for me, you know that's _my_ specialty."

The Lorax shrugged his shoulders with a smile and nod, placing his hands behind his back. "Yeah," He said. "I know. I just wanted you to try it my way. See if you like it!"  
The Once-ler slowly set the plate down on the table and picked up his fork, cutting at the fluffy pancakes and was about to take a bite...  
"Okay, what's with the look?"  
The Lorax who had been watching Once-ler closely quickly shook his head with a laugh, waving a hand. "What look?! Beanpole your eyes must be going on you."  
The old man rose an eyebrow, pursing his lips a little as he leaned down towards The Lorax's face. He pointed at the plate of pancakes. "Mustache, what did you put in this? Because the fact your watching me as closely as you are is...oh how do I put it...?" The Once-ler's brows knit together in a sarcastic expression as he let his hand drop onto his lap. "_Suspicious._"  
"Pssh-!" The Lorax waved a hand again and smiled up at Once-ler. "I didn't put ANYTHING in it Beanpole! It's just mama Lorax's recipe so I wanna know if you like it!"  
"Mama Lorax's recipe, huh..?" Once-ler asked with a roll of his eyes and smiled as he sat up straight again and grabbed ahold of his fork again and took a bite of the pancakes. He instantly grimaced and shut his eyes tightly as he stiffly swallowed and gagged.  
The pancakes tasted _bitter_...almost _SOUR_!  
The old man quickly grabbed the cup of orange juice, which he thanked silently to the big man upstairs that it was there, and quickly chugged it down. Once-ler heavily sighed as he set the glass down on the table. "Wh-Why do they taste SOUR..?"  
The Lorax frowned, crossing his arms. "What? You don't like Mama Lorax's recipe?"  
Once-ler leaned against his legs as he scooted himself back in his chair a little and held up a hand slightly while tilting it side to side. "Well, it's just not particularly my TASTE really BUT...I'm pretty sure it was the best there was!" He lied. Alright, let's face the facts; it was TERRIBLE.  
The Lorax's frown deepened. He suddenly let out a loud sigh, closing his eyes and turning away. "You know Beanpole, you're lying hasn't gotten ANY BETTER." The guardian of the forest stated flatly.  
"Really?" Once-ler asked with a wince and squinted an eye. He laughed a little as he rose up to his feet and placed his hands on his hips with a small shrug and smiled with empathy. "Well, I tried."  
The Lorax smiled. "I know. "  
The Once-ler smiled down at his small and furry friend before he made his way over towards the steps. The old man suddenly let out a small groan as he heavily leaned against the wall, rubbing the temples on his head slowly.  
The Lorax looked back at him, furrowing a brow slowly but a smile slowly spreading on his lips. "Hey, Beanpole? Are you feeling alright?" He asked.  
"Yeah, yeah..." The old man said waved a hand with a nod and slowly stood up again. "I'm fine―" He cut himself off as he doubled over quickly and illy groaned again, crossing his arms over his stomach as he heavily leaned against the wall again for support.  
The Lorax walked over to Once-ler and looked up at him, furrowing a brow of concern. "Umm...are you sure?" He asked again. "You're not looking too hot. "  
Once-ler groaned yet again and shook his head, a pained expression crossing his face as he felt his stomach slowly twist in an aching knot. "Ugh, what was IN those pancakes..?!" He questioned as he quickly looked down at the orange and fuzzy creature briefly before doubling over in pain again.  
It was THEN that The Lorax saw the sign he was hoping for. The hermit's silver and white hair turned slightly darker, turning into a darker shade of grey.  
The Lorax's eyes couldn't help but widen a little. "It shouldn't be long now..." He muttered ever so quietly to himself.  
Once-ler let out a groggy sigh as he began to heavily trudge up the steps, leaning against the wall as he did. "I think I need to lie down for a bit..."  
The Lorax nodded, chuckling quietly and closing his eyes. "Sure thing Beanpole. I'll make some more pancakes for you for later then."  
"NO―Ah...no, that isn't necessary..." Once-ler's voice rang. He laughed nervously. "Thanks anyway, mustache..."  
"Anytime Beanpole. "  
The Lorax waited until the footsteps faded away, ever so slowly scooting over towards the table. He hopped up on the chair and couldn't help but smile to himself in pride with a nod as he stared down at the pancakes. "I did good." He praised himself with another nod, glancing around the room. "I did good..."

* * *

In the city of Thneedville, later on that afternoon Audrey, now eighteen years old and Ted, fifteen, headed over to the park as they chatted. Audrey laughed a little and crossed her arms, a smile spreading on her face. "I still can't believe you started ANOTHER food fight."  
Ted shrugged his shoulders with a smile, looking back up at Audrey after he did. "What can I say? There was food, and I felt like throwing it. "  
Audrey rolled her eyes with a sigh and looked back down at Ted with a faint and playful smirk. "Wow, in ninth grade and you're STILL trying to win my heart?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.  
Ted shoved his hands into his pockets as he glanced away with another shrug. "Can't hurt to try right?"  
That earned a giggle from the red head beauty, closing her eyes and covering her hand with her mouth. "True, true..." She said. "I'll give you credit for THAT."  
Ted look up at Audrey and beamed as he smiled widely. He puckered his lips and closed his eyes, leaning up towards Audrey.  
Audrey looked down at the young boy, shaking her head with a smile as she ruffled his brown hair before walking up towards the towering truffula tree. "You need a haircut." She laughed.  
Ted opened his eyes and immediately pouted, looking at Audrey as she walked off. He snapped his fingers, with a sigh and a smile. "So close."  
"Hey Ted!"

Audrey knelt down next to the truffula tree and placed a hand on it's trunk gently with a frown. "Come check this out!"  
Ted frowned slightly, quickly trotting up to Audrey and kneeling down next to her. "What's wrong?" He asked Audrey with a glance to the truffula tree.  
"Something punctured the trunk..." Audrey said with worry as she pointed to the fresh puncture hole that was on the trunk of the truffula tree. She rubbed her chin a little with thought as she leaned in a little closer. "It looks like someone harvested some of the sap from the truffula..." Audrey remarked thoughtfully.  
Ted frowned a little with thought, tracing his finger around the hole in the trunk of the first re-planted truffula tree. "Why would someone take sap from a truffula tree..?" He asked. "I didn't think sap could be used for anything significant other than making a mess..."  
"Well, sap CAN be used for a multitude of things," Audrey explained. "It can be used as a super glue sorta, sometimes made for hairspray back when there were a bunch of trees around, the list can go on." She frowned deeply as she slowly rose up to her feet and crossed her arms while tapping her foot. "But still...we don't use sap for hairspray anymore and OBVIOUSLY not for glue...so why anyone would take the sap and not the tuffs at least is a VERY good question..."  
Ted shrugged, slapping his knees and looking at Audrey. "Maybe someone's trying to make a uh...THNEED out of sap..?" He suggested as he squinted an eye.  
Audrey began to laugh at Ted's guess, closing her eyes and shaking her head as she ran a hand through her long red hair slowly and sighed. "Good one Ted! You're jokes are getting better!" She said with a pat on the young boy's back, not realizing that Ted was serious.  
"Uh yeah...thanks Audrey but I was being serious..." He said, standing up slowly and looking down at her. "What if someone's trying to do something like that?"  
Audrey blinked. "Oh...uh well..." She thought for a moment. "That'd be...a bit difficult to use though wouldn't it? And besides, the only one who knows HOW to make a Thneed is The Once-ler, right?"  
Ted laugh, nodding and waving a hand as he turned to face outside of town, his expression showing slight strain as he tried to think over the possibilities. "Heh...yeah..." He finally said. "Yeah he's the only one..."  
Audrey stared at Ted for a while and then looked out at the gaping hole in the town walls that was created three years earlier and pointed to it as she looked back at Ted slowly. "You think that The Once-ler has anything to do with this...?" She asked.  
Ted waved a hand down to look back at her, laughing with a smile. "No, no! No way. He's too old now as it is to probably get here and then go back. Besides, there are other truffula trees growing in the valley again. Why come all the way out here right..?" He proposed to Audrey, smiling with a shrug.  
"Good point," Audrey agreed with a small nod. She patted Ted's shoulder gently and motioned forward as they began to walk down the sidewalk again. "Now, how about we head over to the library so I can help you with your RESEARCH PAPER!" She suggested in a cheery tone.  
Ted grinned and nodded, clicking his tongue and pointing his fingers to Audrey with a playful laugh. "Or you can do it for me...?"  
"Ted..."  
"Alright alright." Ted said with roll of his eyes, shoving his hands into his pocket.

* * *

"Uuuugh..."  
On the next morning, or afternoon rather, was when Once-ler had woken up and managed to crawl out of bed. His head felt like it was being pounded with a bat, thumping terribly. But however, The Once-ler was too dazed and groggy to even REALIZE what had happened to him just yet...  
He wandered over to the dresser and leaned against it, slowly looking up at his reflection in the mirror to see if he looked just as miserable as he felt.  
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!"  
Once-ler quickly stumbled backwards, his blue eyes wide. Ever so slowly and trembling, he made his way back over to the dresser and peered at his reflection again. His jaw hit the floor and he screamed again, and then a third time at the sound of his voice. He was...he was...  
YOUNG...  
The Once-ler's hair was no longer silver but was now back to it's dark raven color it was so many years ago, there was no oversized mustache crossing his face and the wrinkles and dark spots on him were long gone! His voice was back to it's youthful tone and it didn't sound like a cat getting run over by a truck anymore!  
Now you must be asking yourself why Once-ler wasn't happy. Why it was he wasn't leaping with joy that he had his youth back and such, right? Well to be frank;  
Once-ler was too spooked to be HAPPY or ANYTHING of the sort at that moment!  
"I'm dreaming," Once-ler declared as he ran his gloved hands over his eyes quickly and through his raven hair. "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming...Okay I'm NOT DREAMING!" He finally said with wide eyes and panic rising up in his voice while shaking his head.  
There was suddenly a deep voiced laughing, the sound of someone slapping the wall being heard. Once-ler swiftly turned around to see The Lorax standing in the doorway of his room, bent over laughing.  
He stared at the forest guardian for a long time, not moving a muscle. Almost out of nowhere, Once-ler made a quick lunge for The Lorax and grabbed him. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He asked while giving The Lorax a quick shake and held him up so they were eye level.  
The Lorax looked up at Once-ler holding out his hand with a wide cheeky grin. "WHAT?! I MADE YOU YOUNG AGAIN!" He laughed.  
Once-ler dropped the orange creature quickly and rose up to his feet while quickly motioning to his body, speaking in the native tongues of confused and baffled gibberish.  
The Lorax sighed, holding out a hand and placing the other on his forehead. "Beanpole, beanpole, beanpole, BEANPOLE CALM DOWN!" He finally yelled at the babbling Once-ler.  
"_Calm down_?" Once-ler asked with wide eyes and a twitching eyebrow. He quickly leaned down into The Lorax's face. "CALM DOWN?! Are you KIDDING ME?!"  
The Lorax waved his hands sideways to Once-ler, looking at him up and down. "We'll aren't you HAPPY?!"  
Once-ler sighed loudly with annoyance as he stood up straight again and placed a hand on his back and the other on his face. "Well, YEAH I'm grateful and happy you did this and all I guess but couldn't you have AT LEAST given me an oh, I don't KNOW.." He quickly looked down at The Lorax, his brows knit together and a frown on his face. "A WARNING?!"  
The Lorax shrugged, glancing away and then back up at Once-ler. "I wanted it to be a surprise." He said.  
"Wha―?! You just...! Okay, you know what?!" Once-ler sighed with a roll of his eyes and drew in a deep breath, a smile forming on his face as he placed his hands on his hips. "I'm going to make the MOST of this! Uh...wait." He looked back down at The Lorax, raising an eyebrow as he motioned towards himself again. "So is there like some sort of time limit here, the Cinderella affect, it turns on and off, what?"  
The Lorax shook his head once with a smile, crossing his arms. "Nope. It's permanent."  
"Permanent...okay...so I'm immortal then or...am I just going to keep on aging normally?" Once-ler asked. He didn't care if all the questions were annoying The Lorax or not. If this was how it was going to be then he wanted to have some understanding at least.  
The Lorax walked over to the bed, jumping up on it and with a little struggling, finally managed to sit on it. "You'll age normally Beanpole. I just kind of um...RE-WINDED your 'life clock'. You're free to live a brand new happy life."  
Once-ler stared at The Lorax for a long time and eventually sat down next to him on his bed, holding up a finger and waving it slightly. "Okay, just one more question..."  
"Sure thing Beanpole what is it?"  
Once-ler looked down at the ground and folded his hands together in his lap as he stared at it for a while, thinking. He slowly looked up at the speaker for the trees, his eyebrows arching up and one rising in a look of ambivalent. "Why did you do this for me..?"  
The Lorax slowly smiled, chuckling and twirling his thumbs around as he clasped his hands together. "I felt bad for you Beanpole..." He said at last.  
Once-ler was taken back.  
"_Bad?_" He asked. "You felt bad for ME? Okay, now I'm lost again."  
"You see Beanpole," The Lorax began. "After you realized your mistake and I lifted myself away...you stayed up in here for the rest of your life. You felt truly bad for what you did so...I don't think you deserved to waste all of your life in this smelly place. You get what I'm saying?"  
Once-ler stared at The Lorax for a long time, in shock. He wasn't sure WHAT to say or do... Even after everything that happened and all they'd been through The Lorax did something as great and kind as THIS. It almost made Once-ler feel bad, but that feeling quickly went away and turned into gratefulness as he wrapped his arms around the creature, closing his eyes tightly.  
The Lorax's eyes widened slightly, looking down at Once-ler and raising an eyebrow "Hey...Beanpole what's the matter? Are you getting emotional or something?"  
Once-ler couldn't help but laugh a little with embarrassment as he pulled away from The Lorax and rubbed the back of his neck a little. "S-Sorry..." He laughed. "Not sure what came over me..."  
The Lorax smiled and placed his hand on his hips, chuckling. "So! What's the FIRST thing you want to do now that you're young?!"  
Once-ler's eyes widened and his shoulders drooped as he looked forward slowly. He hadn't thought about that...  
"I...have..._no idea_..."  
The Lorax rubbed his chin as he looked up at the ceiling with a thought expression. "Hm...how about..." He looked at Once-ler with a smile. "You make me some pancakes huh?! Like good old times!"  
Once-ler rolled his eyes as he smiled, looking down at The Lorax. He had that one coming to him. "Alright, fine." He said as he rose up from his chair. He began to unwrap the pink Thneed he had in the form of a scarf from his neck and tossed it down on the bed. "Just go on downstairs here so I can get outta these clothes."  
The Lorax smiled and did a small fist pump before getting off of the bed and beginning to walk out of the room. "Sure thing Beanpole! I'll be waiting downstairs!"  
Once-ler shut the door behind The Lorax as he walked out and made his way over to his dresser, searching through his clothes. "Come on..." He muttered. "They've gotta be around here somewhere...aha! Bingo!"  
Out of the bottom drawer Once-ler pulled out his light and dark grey striped pants, grey vest and white shirt. The same getup he had worn before his Thneed business took off. He tossed them over on the bed and looked around his moment for his grey fedora but made no success. Once-ler frowned, hoping that he didn't get rid of it. Those raging times were all somewhat of a blur to him...  
"I'll look for it later," Once-ler sighed as he unbuttoned his green tailcoat.

* * *

The Lorax sighed with a smile when he had finally descended down the stairs, patting his stomach with and looking around before going towards the kitchen. "I can never get enough of Beanpole's pancakes..." He said as he made his way through the living room. He stopped short when he saw Once-ler's old grey fedora hat on a still very messy couch. "Beanpole's probably gonna need this then..." He said as he grabbed the hat and brushed off the dust. He turned it over and furrowed a brow when he saw a tag on the inside. Someone's name was written on it, and it's wasn't Once-ler's.

"Who the heck's Wyatt Once-ler?"

* * *

**WELL HELLO THERE FOLKS! This is Isabel(I), and I'll be your A/N-er or afterword commentator for this fanfiction! This is probably our first story where nothing really TOO BIG is gonna happen, or anything over the top. Though we're VERY good at the drama every day life stuff, we just didn't ever get around to posting anything like that now, Anyway, we're STILL doing the system where we write as specific characters of course, it's just literate. Try to think of it as we're literately Role-playing and we're just simply posting the story for it if you want an idea of how we do this. X3 With that in mind,hoped enjoy this chapter and the future ones that are a' comin'! **

**Oh yes! And one more thing;**

**COMMENTS COMMENTS COMMENTS! We as writers value you, the reader's thoughts, opinions, and critiques even if you wish! **

**Okay, that's all folks! Till the next chapter! **

** -I**

_**CHARACTER CHART:**_

_**Once-ler: Isabel Gerber**_

_**The Lorax: Kayla Kephart**_

_**Ted Wiggens: Kayla Kephart**_

_**Audrey: Isabel Gerber**_


	2. Chapter 2: Leaving the Lerkim

_ Snow glistened on the ground over eighty years ago down in the south by a city called Riverston and there was a delicate snowfall. Quite a beautiful sight it would be, but however it was disturbed by the loud groaning and creaking of a car toppled over on it's side on a bridge, just barely dangling by a thread from falling over. Out from the broken glass window in the back a young raven haired boy wearing a grey winters coat and dark jeans crawled out, his blue eyes wide with fear. He quickly looked back at the car as he rose up onto his feet and began to quickly shake his head, cupping his hands to his mouth to project his voice. "D-Dad?!" The young boy stammered. "Daddy, get out of the car!" He cried out with a quaking voice._  
_When there was yet again no response, the ten year old boy began to sprint down the bridge towards the city as best as he could, slipping and sliding because of the snow. "I'll go get help!" He called out._  
_With all his strength the boy ran, huffing and wheezing with panic. He began to madly wave his arms as he approached a road, screaming at the top of his lungs. "HELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE, MY DAD'S IN TROUBLE!" The boy screamed on for over five minutes until at last he gained the attention of a young couple that was diving by. He wasted no time and took the adults by their hands began to run over towards the teetering car as the husband dialed 911 on his cell phone._  
_But however, nothing can stop the inevitable..._  
_The car groaned and creaked loudly and before any of the three had made it to the car within a meter it fell. The boy screamed out, tears falling down his face as he fell to his knees._  
_How sad it is indeed for young Once-ler to have learned so young that the world can be quite cruel..._

_It was the day of Wyatt Once-ler's funeral did his brother walk up to the young Once-ler who stood in front of his fathers casket, silent. The brother knelt down next to Once-ler and looked at him, his eyebrows arched up. "Once-ler...you know your father was always so proud of you..." Once-ler's uncle said to him, a small smile on his face. "Whenever he called to talk he always talked about you first before himself..."_  
_Once-ler said nothing. He only stared up at his uncle, eyes brimming with dully lit tears and streaming down his face and onto his winter's coat._  
_His uncle sighed, reaching out and pulling the young boy into his arms for a hug, closing his eyes._  
_Whimpering and trembling with grief, Once-ler clung onto his uncle, sniffling quietly as he buried his face into his chest. "I miss him Uncle Ed..." He quietly said as his small hands held onto his Uncle's coat tightly._  
_Ed nodded, piking Once-ler up and holding him in his arms and rubbing his back as he shushed him quietly. "I know..." He said quietly. "I know you do Once-ler..."_  
_Once-ler's blue eyes slowly looked down at the black casket and stared at it for a long time, his expression showing quite a surprising amount of seriousness for a now eleven year old. "I'm gonna do something big..." He declared. "Something so big that...that even from way way up above you're gonna be able to reach out and touch it. I'll keep biggering and biggering till that happens, too..."_  
_Ed looked down at Once-ler and couldn't help but smile and nod, looking down at the casket. "Once-ler..." He said after awhile. "I know you and your family aren't always the friendliest...so, me and aunt Sarah were wondering if you would want to live with us...now, that's up to you and I don't want you to feel pressured into answering..."_  
_Once-ler stared up at Ed for a long time, silent. He eventually wiggled out of his uncle's arms and shook his head slowly. "Uh-uh..." Once-ler said quietly. "No, family is family...I can't leave them behind."_  
_Ed smiled, kneeling down and nodding. "Alright...I understand that..." He said. He stood back up, holding up a finger. "Can you wait here a minute? I have something for you."_  
_Once-ler nodded. "Okay."_  
_Ed smiled and patted Once-ler's head gently before walking off. He came back not long after with a grey fedora in his hands. He knelt back down in front of the young boy and held it out to him. "Here." He said. "This was your father's favorite hat. I think he'd want you to have it..."_  
_Once-ler stared at the fedora for a long time before gingerly taking it and placing it on his head, the hat drooping in front of his face instantly. Too big._  
_Ed chuckled, taking the hat's rim and tilting it up a little. "It's a little big on you..." He chuckled. "You'll grow into it though..."_  
_The young boy couldn't help but smile broadly at his uncle and quickly nodded in thanks, giving one last glance at the casket before he turned on his heels and made his way off home on the snow covered dirt path, shoving a hand into his pocket and constantly tilting the fedora up from his eyes so he could see with the other._  
_Ed chuckled again as he stood up straight, his face softening slowly as he sighed. "I really hope he does okay without his father...heck, his mother didn't even come out to pay her respect..." He sighed, shaking his head. He turned around and began to walk off, smiling when he joined a woman with brown hair, linking their arms together and walking off._

_"I'm home," Once-ler kicked the snow off of his shoes before he entered the small house, tilting up the fedora yet again from his eyes. He shut the door behind himself and hung up his coat on the coatrack with a small jump._  
_A younger Isabella glanced over at her son from the living room before going back to brushing her boa dog scarf, not paying much mind to him at all. "So, how'd it go?" She asked in her southern accent. "Any trouble?"_  
_"It was...nice, I guess..." Once-ler said, not really sure how to respond. He tilted up the fedora yet again when it flopped in front of his face. "Uncle Ed did a speech and then he gave me dad's hat―"_  
_"That's nice honey. Now, go on upstairs. It was nice and quiet before you got home and I'd like it to stay that way." She said, looking up at Once-ler with a faint smile. "No offense Oncie."_  
_Once-ler stared at Isabella for a long time before he nodded, rubbing his arm slightly as he began to walk off slowly, a forced smile spreading across his face. "Um...no, it's uh...okay mom, sorry to bother you...I'll just go to my room."_  
_Isabella nodded, returning back to tending her scarf. "Good boy, Oncie." She said._  
_Slowly trudging up the steps, ignoring his brothers' annoying laughter as he passed by their room Once-ler went; stepping up on the step ladder at the end of the hallway, pulling down an attic trap door and ladder. Once-ler side hopped onto the ladder with ease, sighing quietly as he made his way up the ladder._  
_Didn't ANYONE care...?_

* * *

The Lorax picked at the pancake on his plate, glancing at the fedora hat on the table with a softened expression. "Wow..." He finally said. "That's some story Beanpole..."  
"You could say that, I guess." Once-ler shrugged. "It all happened a really long time ago now," He said as he leaned back in his chair, swiping the fedora off of the table and held it up in front of himself. "It's a little hard to talk about still, yeah but I mean there wasn't anything I could've done, really..."  
The Lorax nodded slightly, looking down at the table and drumming his fingers on it. He chuckled and offered a smile up to Once-ler. "If the truffula sap could bring someone back to life I would probably bring back your father..." He said with another chuckle, his smile warming and his eyebrows arching up slightly.  
Once-ler couldn't help but smile when the speaker for the trees said this and placed his fedora on his head with a small sigh. He sat up and slapped his knees before standing up and stretching out his back. "Alrighty! I'll clean up then and after that figure out what it is I'm gonna do for the next...few more...years." Once-ler ended his sentence off slowly and a frown of uncertainty and his brows knitting together. 'What in the world am I going to DO?' He thought to himself.  
"Here's a bright idea!" The Lorax exclaimed with a wide grin as he got off of his seat, looking up at Once-ler. "Why don't you go to THNEEDVILLE?! Have that eh uh, TED kid show you around!"  
Once-ler's eyes almost TRIPLED their size. He looked down at The Lorax, out of the window, and then down at The Lorax again. "You mean...into TOWN..?" He asked almost as though the word "town" was foreign.  
The Lorax nodded and crossed his arms with a grin. "Yup!"  
"Uhhhhh..." Once-ler's gaze slowly moved back to the window, his shoulders dropping. He could just barely make out Thneedville in the distance with the smog gone now. "Okay!" Once-ler said quickly with a gesture of his hands. "So to CLARIFY, by "going to Thneedville" you mean either actually interacting with...PEOPLE, going to shops, all that jazz?" He asked The Lorax with a nervous pitch in his voice. It had been WAY too long for Once-ler to just simply pop in into a city like that! Being in isolation for so long had put a great blow to his social skills.  
The Lorax rolled his eyes with a groan and nodded, placing his hand to his forehead. "Yes, Beanpole."  
"Uhhhh...er...okay!" Once-ler instantly perked up, holding his hands together with a smile. "How about I answer that question in two years time?" He asked quickly.  
The Lorax quickly frowned his eyebrow twitching as he groaned lightly in annoyance.  
"...So that's a no?"  
"Of course it's a no."  
Once-ler groaned loudly with a sigh and hung his head, shaking it slowly. "Okay!" He sighed with defeat. "Fine, fine! I'll ask Ted to show me around Thneedville when he comes by! If he doesn't freak out or become too confused about..." Once-ler motioned to himself, making a face and scrunching up his nose as he rose an eyebrow. "All of...THIS," He said slowly, unsure of how to put it.  
The Lorax waved a hand and laughed with a smile. "It'll be FINE Beanpole!" He said cheerfully. "Trust me!"  
Crossing his arms slowly, Once-ler nodded with a small sigh. "Alright, alright." He said. "I trust you, but I'm just going into town for SIGHTSEEING! Talking to other people and making conversation will all be saved for later when I'm ready. Deal?"  
The Lorax nodded, crossing his arms with a smile. "Deal."  
"Hey-oh! Once-ler! Hey you there?!" A voice suddenly called out from down below.  
The two quickly looked over at the window, their eyes widening a little with surprise. Once-ler quickly rushed over to peer out, his eyes widening a little more as he recoiled back from the window. "Oh man, no time to make a plan!" He said quickly as he looked down at The Lorax. "Now what?!"  
"Uhhhh..." The Lorax murmured, glancing around. He snapped his fingers, looking up at Once-ler with a smile. "Oo! How about when you go out to tell him, KNOCK him on the head, and drag his unconscious body inside." He shrugged. "Then when he wakes up we'll tell him."  
"MUSTACHE!" Once-ler slapped his forehead. "You can't just―! You..! Ah, forget it! Just come out with me and help me explain this!"  
The Lorax pouted for a moment before following Once-ler out of the room. "It was going to be such a good plan though..." He mumbled.  
Once-ler rolled his eyes as he placed his hand the doorknob and opened up the door slowly, peering his head out to see Ted poking at the truffula tree sprouts to entertain himself. He glanced back at The Lorax, who had a cane in his hand and tapped it in his other hand with suggestive raised eyebrows. Once-ler's raven brows quickly knit together, his eyelids lowering halfway as he pointed back inside the house, telling The Lorax to put the cane away.  
The Lorax grumbled, tossing the cane inside without a care.  
Once-ler sighed, rolling his eyes before clearing his throat and walking up behind Ted with a smile as he placed his hands behind his back. "Hey Ted!"  
Ted glanced up before standing up, looking at Once-ler with a slightly confuse expression. "Um...hey..?" Ted said with a raise of his eyebrow.  
Once-ler laughed awkwardly at the situation he was in, holding up his hands quickly. "Alright! Now I KNOW you're confused but there is a WHOLE EXPLANATION to this―" He suddenly cut himself off as he saw the young boy's eyes widen for a split second before closing and falling to the ground. And there behind his now unconscious body, stood The Lorax with the cane in his hand. He chuckled, nodding with a proud smile. "There." He said. "That's better."  
"MUSTACHE!" Once-ler face palmed with a shake of his head and loud slap. "You just―I TOLD YOU NOT TO―AH! WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!"  
The Lorax shrugged, glancing around with wide eyes. "What?!" The small forest guardian exclaimed, looking up at Once-ler.  
"WHAT YOU JUST DID!" Once-ler yelled quickly before placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Uugh! Okay, you know what?! Forget this, NOW we gotta wait until Ted WAKES UP." He said as he hoisted the teen up in his arms and hurriedly began to walk to the door. "Open the door for me you furry meatloaf!"  
The Lorax groaned, dropping his shoulders and furrowing a brow as he humbly made his way over to the door. "Fine." He grumbled, opening it up.  
"I CAN'T believe you right now!" Once-ler scolded The Lorax(which was quite odd seeing how it is normally the opposite way around) as he carried Ted inside the Lerkim. "Just UN-BE-LIEVEABLE..."  
The Lorax chuckled with a mischievous smile, shrugging again. "Hey, Beanpole, I told you I was going to do it so I did!" He said. "No harm done!"  
"You know, just saying "No harm done" does NOT mean that NO HARM was done." Once-ler replied flatly as he walked into the living room and set Ted down on the couch carefully. He winced a little with sympathy when he checked the teen's head and felt a large bump on the back of his head. "Sheesh, Mustache, are you sure ya weren't trying to KILL Ted?" He commented as he rose up to his feet.  
"Of course not!" said The Lorax with wide eyes, walking over to Ted and patting his head with a smile, looking up at Once-ler. "He planted the first truffula tree. How could I wanna kill him?"  
Once-ler rolled his eyes as he walked out of the living room. "I was being sarcastic."  
The Lorax frowned. Ted groaned lightly once Once-ler was out of the room, slowly turning on his side. The Lorax looked at him as he opened his eyes slightly. WAM! The cane strikes again. Back to an unconscious state Ted Wiggins went.

* * *

Later that afternoon, a loud pained groan filled the living room. Ted was now waking up. Again. Ted began to slowly sit up, placing a hand on the back of his head and whimpering slightly when he did, feeling the bump. "Ouch..." The teen muttered, glancing around slowly. "Wh..Where am I...? And why does my HEAD HURT so bad?"  
"Sorry about that," An apologetic voice rose up. Once-ler slowly walked into the living room, carring a small icepack in his hands and handed it to Ted with a small laugh. "Here."  
Ted slowly took the ice pack from Once-ler, placing in on the back of his head and immediately wincing, half of the reason because of the shock of the cold and the other of the throbbing feeling from the bump. "Th-Thanks..." Ted mumbled graciously, the cold from the pack now a welcoming feeling.  
"You're welcome." Once-ler said with a smile and nod before plopping down in a recliner. "Again, I REALLY am sorry, but MUSTACHE doesn't know when to LISTEN!" He said, slowly rising up his voice and yelling curtly when he said the word "listen".  
"HEY! BEANPOLE SHUT IT!" A voice called from out in the kitchen. Ted glanced over at the kitchen, then at Once-ler, raising an eyebrow.  
Once-ler sighed as he rose up to his feet again and placed his hands on his hips while motioning towards the kitchen. "That would be Mustache. But of course you know him as The Lorax. Anyway, anyway; not the point!" He said quickly with a wave of his hands. "Look, as I was trying to tell you BEFORE, I know this is going to seem, TOTALLY crazy! Even I think I'm crazy for saying this TO YOU but...it's...me." Once-ler sighed and shook his head before motioning to himself when Ted gave him a confused expression. "You know, ME! The only guy that LIVES HERE! The Once-ler!"  
Ted raised an eyebrow slowly, raising his head up and eventually nodding. "Okay..." He said. "I believe you..."  
Once-ler frowned, his eyelids closing halfway and eyebrows rising up. "No you don't."  
Ted laughed, standing up with a smile as he motioned around with his hand. "Well COME ON! That doesn't make any sense! Besides," He dropped the ice pack on the couch, tenderly touching his bump with a small laugh. "I hit my head pretty hard! On...something..." He said, furrowing a brow as he tried to recall what happened to him.  
"The Lorax hit you in the head with a cane."  
"The Lorax...hit me with a CANE?"  
Once-ler nodded, his expression remaining the same. "Yeah. And he did that BECAUSE of the fact I'm...all..." He motioned towards himself with a slightly lost expression. He just confused himself. "You know...ah, I don't even understand MYSELF, alright?!" Once-ler said quickly as he placed a his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Just bare with me here, Ted!"  
Ted sighed, shrugging and siting back down. "Alright, so what you're saying is," He pointed to Once-ler. "You're the old man Once-ler but you're YOUNG?"  
"YES!" Once-ler frantically nodded as he leaned his head back to look at the ceiling with a small groan of annoyance. He held up his hands as he looked back down at Ted. "Okay, I don't know HOW but Mustache was DEFINITELY the one who did THIS! I still can't figure out HOW he did it but I mean it could've been ANYTHING, he's a magical forest guardian tree speaking creature!" Once-ler began to pace, waving a finger as he listed the possibilities. "Maybe he did it when he first came BACK and it didn't take affect until yesterday, maybe he did some SPELL, or maybe―" He stopped pacing and snapped a finger with a quick nod. Now Once-ler got it. "The PANCAKES!"  
Ted raised an eyebrow, making a face. "PANCAKES?"  
Once-ler quickly looked down at Ted, pointing towards the kitchen. "The other day, that furry little meatloaf kept INSISTING that he made breakfast for me and I couldn't figure out WHY but now I DO! The pancakes he made were SOUR and almost tasted like SAP! I bet that whatever it was that he put in those pancakes is how I became young again!"  
Ted's eyes widened slightly, remembering the reason he came here in the first place. "Wait wait wait, did you say SAP?!" He asked with enthusiasm, jumping up and down in his spot almost.  
Now it was Once-ler's turn to be confused. "Uh, yeah? Why?"  
"Me and my friend Audrey saw a little hole carved into the truffula tree in the center of town. We thought you had something to do with it, or an idea anyways..."  
Once-ler frowned a little out of confusion, crossing his arms and placing a finger on his chin. "No, I definitely didn't." He said. "When did this happen?"  
Ted shrugged, gently touching at the slightly receding bump. "Uhh...last night, maybe?" He said.  
"Last night? Well, it might have been the night BEFORE because yesterday MORNING was...when..." Once-ler's voice slowly trailed off. Him and Ted slowly looked towards the kitchen, their eyes widening almost in unison as they looked at each other.  
"The Lorax!" They said in unison with realization.  
Not long after they said it and proceeded to head towards the kitchen, The Lorax stepped out with his hands in his hips, a deep frown on his face. "I heard you two talking about me." He said. Ted couldn't help but grin slightly as he looked down at the short forest guardian. "Aww man..!" He said excitably, grinning wider. Now he remembered why Once-ler had called him "Mustache". It had been nearly a month since his last visit.  
Once-ler quickly walked up towards The Lorax, squinting an eye as he bent down and leaned into the creature's face. "Mustache...PLEASE tell me if it was YOU that took the sap from the truffula tree Ted planted and THAT'S what you put in those pancakes."  
The Lorax smiled proudly with a nod of his head. "Yup." He responded.  
Once-ler stared at The Lorax, his eyes wide. "You're KIDDING ME..?" He asked.  
The Lorax shook his head. "Nope."  
Once-ler let out a loud sigh and hung his head while shaking it slowly as he placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "I don't think I'll ever get you Mustache..." He said with a small chuckle.  
"And you won't. That's the point. " The Lorax replied with a smile.  
Once-ler slowly stood up straight and looked back at Ted with a lopsided smile as he motioned towards the tree speaker. "See what I deal? Anyway, anyway..." He waved his hands down and placed them on his hips with a deep sigh. "Look, Ted do you believe me now because I have a question I REALLY REALLY gotta ask."  
Ted nodded, crossing his arms with a shrug. "Yeah I guess so."  
Once-ler slowly rose up a finger, opening his mouth to speak. After a long pause, he swiftly turned his back to The Lorax and Ted and began to quickly make an escape out of the living room. "Nope, nope, nope. Never mind!"  
Ted laughed, looking at Once-ler and furrowing a brow. "Hey! What is it?!"  
The Lorax sighed loudly, quickly walking after Once-ler and grabbing onto him, and beginning to pull him back inside the living room. "He wants to go to Thneedville." The Lorax told Ted.  
"Hey! Mustache, let me GO!" Once-ler irritably snapped pulled his leg away from The Lorax's grasp. "Why do you keep doing the opposite of everything I say NOT to do?"  
The Lorax crossed his arms with a deep frown. "Because! You said you wanted to go!"  
Once-ler sighed with a small roll of his eyes and a nervous expression on his face. "Yeah, I KNOW but...the more I think about it the more I think it's not such a great idea..." Let's face facts; Once-ler had only spoken to Ted recently. And the sixty years before THAT he spoke to nobody and was sure to scare off anyone that did. In other words; Social skills equals zero in Once-ler's case.  
Ted smiled, grabbing Once-ler's arm and beginning to pull him towards the door. "Oh come on! It can't be THAT BAD!" He said.  
"NO!" The young hermit swiftly planted his feet into the floor, pulling back on Ted's hand while shaking his head. "Oh yes it CAN!"  
Ted frowned a little, pulling hard on Once-ler's hand. "HEY! I drove all the way out here! Come on!"  
"Then you can drive ALL THE WAY BACK!" Once-ler said quickly as he was dragged to the door. He swiftly jumped up and planted his feet on the door frame to anchor himself. "It'll only end in a DISASTER I CAN'T GO."  
Ted closed his eyes, quickly putting his foot on the frame from the outside, pulling his hand harder. "PLEASE?!" Ted begged. "I KNOW THE PERFECT PEOPLE YOU CAN HANG OUT WITH!"  
Once-ler pulled back on his hand. "I HANG OUT WITH NO PEOPLE!" He said curtly.  
"IT'S A GIRL!" Ted yelled out, unsure if it might get his attention. But he didn't need that. The Lorax, who was still inside the house, swiftly jumped up and kicked his foot in between the poor restraining young man's legs.  
And a high C sharp note he sang. Once-ler released his grip and dropped down onto his knees with a pained groan. "Oh ho ho ho! OH MAN..." He whimpered in a pitched voice as he bent forward slowly. "Yow..! That hurt so bad..."  
The Lorax quickly grabbed Once-ler's other hand, himself and Ted quickly pulling the in pain Once-ler towards Ted's newly bought motorcycle with a side car.  
"You're so despicable..." Once-ler piped up as he was dragged into the side car. "DESPICABLE."  
Ted gave The Lorax a small high-five before climbing up onto his motorcycle, The Lorax sitting behind him. Ted smiled, looking down at Once-ler. "So, are you ready to go to Thneedville?" He asked.  
"Yeah, sure."  
Ted smiled again, looking forward and starting up his motorcycle, slowly moving himself around the growing truffula trees to the road before zooming of towards Thneedville.

_I wake up, my shoulders cold_

_I've got to leave here before I go,_

_I pull my shirt on walk out the door, drag my feet along the floor_

_I pull my shirt on, walk out the door, drag my feet along the floor..._

Once-ler grumbled quietly as he leaned against his hand and sat up in the side car of the motorcycle. He just wasn't sure about this still and was nervous more than anything. Who wouldn't be if they were in his position?  
"We're almost there!" Ted shouted, looking down at Once-ler through his goggles. Once-ler slowly looked up and his jaw dropped loosely at the sight.

_Then I see you, you're walking across the campus_

_Cruel professor studying romances,_

_How am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?_

_How am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?_

The way Ted had talked about Thneedville made it seem like it was NOTHING! But from what Once-ler was seeing Thneedville was definitely something! He was impressed. The place turned out better than Once-ler had expected when looking over the miniature models and blueprints.  
The Lorax began to laugh, looking down at Once-ler's face. "Not what you expected huh Beanpole?!"  
A grin spread across the young man's face as he sat up quickly and his eyes brightened as a laugh escaped his lips and shook his head. "Not at all!"

_Walk to class in front of ya_

_Spilled kefir on your keffiyah_

_You look inside and turn to the door_

_Drag your feet along the floor_

"This is AMAZING!" Once-ler cried out in full blown excitement when he jumped to his feet as soon as the motorcycle came to a stop and began to make a full sprint towards the city. Before he was neglectful to go to Thneedville and now he was glad he was taken against his will.  
Ted took off his goggles and laughed, smiling at the running Once-ler. "He sure seems happy." After a nod of agreement from The Lorax, Ted began his pursuit after Once-ler on his motorcycle.

_Then I see you walk across the campus_

_Cruel professor studying romances_

_How am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?_

_How am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?_

It was when he approached the gap in the steel town wall did Once-ler show hesitation. He stood on the edge of the of the fallen steel wall piece, only a small step needed to enter the town. Once-ler's hands started to shake and he felt his throat grow tight with anxiety.  
There was still a chance to turn back...it wasn't too late.  
Ted lightly moved up to Once-ler, smiling and motioning his head inside the town. "Well?" He asked. "Are you going in?"  
"Do you really think this is a good idea..?" Once-ler's voice was shaking and this surprised Ted. Was he really THAT NERVOUS?  
The brunette teen smiled and nodded. "Come on. No one knows who you are, and you deserve this."

_In the afternoon you're out on the stone and grass_

_And I'm sleeping on the balcony after class_

_In the afternoon you're out on the stone and grass_

_And I'm sleeping on the balcony after class..._

Once-ler drew a deep breath and bit his bottom lip. He set his jaw with determination as he nodded. "Alright. I'm ready."

* * *

**AND THERE YOU ALL HAVE IT! THE FIRST OFFICIAL SONG THAT HAS BEEN PUT INTO THE FANFICTION! **

**Prepare yourselves for a bountiful amount of songs, some originally created and written by us with instrumental bases, others that were sang in the movie will be repeated in this fanfiction and there will be other songs that are neither and were written by official songwriters such as this one which also happens to be the main theme for this fanfiction. ;) Neither me or Kayla own the song that was presented; "Campus" by Vampire Weekend! Thanks for reading folks and remember; **

**COMMENTS COMMENTS COMMENTS! As writers we value our readers thoughts so please bring up your thoughts on this chapter, constructive criticism or ideas! We accept them all! **

**Until the next chapter!**

** -I**

_**CHARACTER CHART:**_

_**The Once-ler: Isabel**_

_**Uncle Ed Once-ler: Kayla**_

_**Isabella Once-ler: Kayla**_

_**The Lorax: Kayla**_

_**Ted Wiggins: Kayla**_

_***Kayla wrote as a lot of characters this chapter LOL XD***_


	3. Chapter 3: The First Day in Thneedville

_For over Sixty years The Once-ler stayed in the Lerkim... For the first day after The Lorax lifted himself away, he made a lamppost and created an inscription on it that read; "The Street of the lifted Lorax" as a reminder to all that passed of the life that once was in that valley_  
_And a reminder himself of what he had done._  
_Days passed on, and the press continued to urge for Once-ler to come out and give the story of what was going to be the future of the valley. And every time they came, he responded the same way; screaming down at the interviewers and news folks to go away from his balcony at the top of his lungs and in full rage. Eventually they stopped coming._  
_Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years..._  
_Most of the time Once-ler spent his time sulking and thinking of how things could have been different on the top of his Lerkim, other days he would stand outside in the dull grey of land and simply watch and stare at his factory, watching it day by day cripple and crumble to pieces, of sit on the "Unless" stone to ponder...ponder on what it all meant._  
_Two weeks into the isolation after the press had left, The Once-ler witnessed it... He SAW death..._  
_The death of Mother Nature herself._  
_It was a particularly dull day, and Once-ler was sitting on the "Unless" stone. That's when he noticed the crawling and pained figure crawl across the deserted land, almost as though it were trying to reach him._  
_Normally Once-ler would have shouted in rage for the person to go away, but something told him down inside his guilty heart that she could not be turned away and needed help. He rushed over to the figure and truly saw what or rather WHO this figure really was..._  
_A figure wearing a wilted and dry white flower petal dress lay on the grey dirt with silver and white hair, almost as it would have been when one were aging despite her young face. She looked dead, almost or rather just barely alive with her deathly pale skin and faded expression._  
_Once-ler carried her into the Lerkim as fast as he could to tend to her as best he could, but nothing he tried worked. The woman told him to stop his attempts, for there was no need to stop the inevitable..._  
_She was dying._  
_The woman was actually Mother Nature. She explained everything to Once-ler of who she was down to why her fate was set. The Once-ler felt the guilt grow heavier inside him but Mother Nature eased him. "At least you have learned what you had done was wrong," she told him in a weak voice. "That is what matters most."_  
_Trying to set comfort for both of themselves despite what they knew was their fates, death and eternal solitude; they talked to Mother Nature's very end. They had laughs, shed some tears, and chatted of what was and their happy memories._  
_Eventually without realizing it The Once-ler and Mother Nature became the closest friends either of them had ever made and grew an unbreakable bond that could only be parted by death. And that day drew very near..._  
_The final day approached for Mother Nature, and they had chatted as they always did until she brought up what had to be done for the future. She explained to Once-ler about a seed she had hidden just in case. Inside that seed held the a bit of her life and power, she explained that Once-ler had to find that seed and plant it when the time was right and if he could not plant it have someone who was worthy to do so for him. They said their final goodbyes and that was that. The final breath had drawn and Mother Nature's body vanished, turning into dead vines, flowers and leaves..._  
_For nearly two years Once-ler searched for the seed in the ground hidden until he had found it._  
_Such a tiny and insignificant looking thing the seed was... But it was MORE than that, so much more... It was a symbol of hope, and of LIFE. Two things so dear and worth holding onto for an eternity if needed to be. The Once-ler wanted that hope to be spread and he waited...he waited until the moment was right._

_For the last Truffula seed to be planted._

"...Hey, HEY _ONCE-LER_!" Ted called out to the young man, letting out a laugh once he got his attention. "What do you think of the place so far?!"

Once-ler snapped back into the present, his eyes widening a little as his blue eyes darted about quickly. "Huh, wait what? Oh! Oh yeah, this is great!" He said as a grin spread across his face. "Thneedville seems to be doing a lot better now than before after what you told me,"

Ted laughed with a smile, breathing in deeply as he cruised down the edge of the street next to the sidewalk. "Yeah, it's definitely it easier to breath that's for sure!"Ted laughed with a smile, breathing in deeply as he cruised down the edge of the street next to the sidewalk. "Yeah, it's definitely it easier to breath that's for sure!"

Once-ler laughed a little, taking a deep breath himself as he smiled and placed his hands behind his head. "You can say that again. And you guys are planting all of these truffula trees everywhere, I mean WOW! Where did you even FIND these seeds because they couldn't have all come from just that one truffula tree, could it?"

Ted grinned, looking at Once-ler."Yeah well, all of this you can thank Daisy for!" He said, dodging a car and waving at the driver with a laugh.

"Daisy?" Once-ler furrowed a brow at Ted. "Who's she?"

"She's the owner of the Truffula Nursery a little bit past downtown! She has like HUNDREDS of little truffula sprouts growing in her backyard, out of pots, window boxes, anywhere you could THINK OF! She moved here about a year or two before we got the truffula tree planted. She's the girl I mentioned to you earlier when I dragged you out of your house."

"Huh." Once-ler glanced up at the sky, a smile spreading across his face as he slowly nodded and placed a finger on his chin. "She seems interesting. Where did she come from before she came here because I mean considering how it is OUTSIDE of town..."

Ted shrugged, glancing over at Once-ler. "Not sure." He said. "She never really said. All I know is she really loves truffula trees. A lot."

Once-ler laughed a little and looked down at Ted with a playful smirk and motioned his head towards the houses and buildings where a certain forest guardian taking cover. "You sure you're not trying to really hook up a certain Mustache with this woman instead of introducing me to her to make friends with?"  
Ted laughed, his eyes widening a little."You can't be serious can you?" He asked with another laugh. "I'm not trying to hook DAISY and MUSTACHE up!"

Once-ler began to laugh, waving a hand down as he shook his head and shoved a hand into his pocket. "Relax, relax! I'm just kidding around!" He said. "But I'd be in FULL SUPPORT if he DID find a certain LADY FRIEND!" Once-ler said a bit louder for a certain someone to hear and leaned towards a fence with a smirk as they passed by it.

And of course the one whom it was intended for got annoyed very quickly, and a rock greeted Once-ler's shoulder.

"Ow!" Once-ler retreated back next to Ted while rubbing his arm. "Jeeze! Furry little meatloaf…"  
Ted laughed, shaking his head and looking forward. "Shouldn't have said that- Ah ha! Look we're almost there actually!" He pouted a finger out towards a house where many truffula trees were visible.  
Once-ler quickly looked forward, a grin spreading on his face when he saw the truffula sprouts. "Oh wow, those ARE a lot of truffulas—"  
"I'LL RACE YOU TO HER HOUSE!" Ted shouted before zooming off with a laugh.  
That was not even RIGHT.  
"H-Hey!" Once-ler called as he began to run after Ted with wide eyes. "Come on, can't you cut me some slack, this is my first time on town!"  
"NO WAY!"  
"You can't just do this—ah okay whatever!" Once-ler sighed loudly as he picked up his speed. He had to dodge a few cars however when he had to resort to running across the street when Ted crossed. "S-Sorry! WOAH! My bad entirely! Okay, HOLD ON—AH!" Once-ler screamed as he made a strong leap, springing forward like a panther thanks to his long legs and making it to the sidewalk. However unfortunately the long legged raven haired man did end up doing a rough face plant into the plaster-like concrete. "Ow."  
The sound of laughing could suddenly be heard. And that laughter came from none other than The Lorax and Ted.  
Once-ler rolled his eyes with an annoyed sigh, a small frown on his face as he slowly stood up and brushed himself off. "Oh yeah, ha ha." He said flatly. "Go ahead, almost DIED but oh no seriously keep on laughing! It is _HILARIOUS_."  
Ted pounded at his chest as he tried to stop laughing, clearing his throat loudly a few times and kicking The Lorax with his foot when he didn't stop laughing either. "O-Okay-! UH HUM! A-Are you okay..?" Ted asked Once-ler through stifled giggles.  
Once-ler rolled his eyes again, sighing as he began to walk down the sidewalk towards this Daisy person's house. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Jeeze..."  
Ted pouted as he looked at Once-ler, crossing his arms. "Hey...come on cheer up!"  
"I almost got RUN OVER by A _CAR_!" Once-ler called back and looked over at Ted quickly. "More like FIVE actually." He added flatly before turning on his heels and waved a hand. "Don't worry though I'm not going to let it rain on my parade, I'm just SAYING that I—" He suddenly cut himself off, his blue eyes widening.

There, in front of the house covered in truffula trees, was a girl his age in a light green and pink dress. She had long blonde hair that lay freely against her back and shoulders and her green eyes looked into his, a smile spread on her pink lips. This was the truffula nursery owner, Daisy Elizabeth Belle.  
"Whoa..." Once-ler said slowly, tilting his fedora back from his eyes a little to get a better view of the blonde beauty. "She's...she's...who IS THAT..? Is she Daisy?" He questioned dumbly, his jaw slack. Oh what a jewel he was staring at!  
Ted laughed, walking next to Once-ler and standing on his tip toes due to the extreme height difference, wrapping an arm around the dumbfounded young man's shoulders. "Heh, Daisy, sorry to come without notice but...this is my friend. He just moved here. And I wanted him to meet some of my friends." He said with a smile.  
Daisy giggled, oh what a beautiful giggle it was, and walked up in front of the two, a small skip in her step. "Oh really?" She asked, her voice sounding as sweet as the fruits that hung from full grown truffula trees. "That's so sweet of you Ted!"  
Once-ler felt his face grow hot. And he could tell that it was turning crimson now. _'Ohhh..!'_ He thought anxiously, his heart racing. _'What do I say, what do I SAY?!'_  
_'How about introducing yourself for one thing, genius?'_ An inner voice rung up.  
_'Oh yeah. Good point.'_  
Ted pushed Once-ler forward toward Daisy with another laugh, taking a step back and placing his hands behind his back. "Well, anyway. I just thought that maybe you would want to show my friend your truffula nursery?"  
"Well of course I would." Daisy replied with a glance at Ted. She looked up at Once-ler and giggled, closing her eyes. "But first I'd like to know your friend's name. I'm Daisy, if you didn't already know." She directed the last part to Once-ler, holding out a small and dainty hand.  
Once-ler gulped. He laughed a little as he reached a trembling hand out and shook Daisy's hand.  
_'Her skin is so smooth—**FOCUS**.'_  
"Ah hah..." Once-ler laughed nervously as he withdrew his hand slowly. "Ah...m-my name's O-Once-ler—" His eyes widened a little. Oops.  
Ted slapped his forehead and sighed, shaking his head.  
A small frown was immediately on Daisy's face when she heard him reveal his name. "Once-ler..?" She asked slowly, her eyes studying him.  
"Ah..." Once-ler laughed nervously and nodded quickly, rubbing the back of his head and removed his fedora off his head. "Y-Yeah! Ha ha ha... Once-ler the SECOND! I was named after my grandfather because I look a lot like him apparently according to my folks!"

Whew, too close.

His swift save was rewarded with another giggle from Daisy. "I guess you kind of do actually." She said.  
Once-ler laughed in triumph, half tempted to do a victory dance but managed to stay still._ 'I made her giggle.'_  
"Okay so anyway... I mean WOW!" Once-ler marveled the truffula sprouts change topic quickly as he could. "This is a REALLY impressive nursery you have running here!" He said with a grin while peering over Daisy (which for his height was rather easy to do) to look at the small truffula sprouts.  
Daisy looked back at her house and smiled, giggling and glancing back at Once-ler. "Thanks. Did you wanna come and see it?" She asked with a tilt of her head.  
"That would be great! I'd love to!" Once-ler said as he looked down at Daisy with a grin.

Did he answer that too quickly?

Ted patted Once-ler's arm with a smile before he began to make his way to his motorcycle. "Alright! I'll leave you two kids alone for a while..."  
Once-ler quickly looked back to watch Ted be on his way, eyes wide. "Wait, huh?!"  
Daisy giggled, looking over at Ted with a faintly furrowed brow. "Are you sure you don't want to stay Ted?" She asked.  
Ted shook his head as he mounted his bike, putting on his helmet. "Nah, I've got a research paper to finish. Audrey's helping me."  
Daisy smiled and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. "Well don't get in any trouble okay? I don't want to hear from my girl Audrey that you were hitting on her again. "  
"Hey! She kissed me remember?! Alright I'm off, see ya Once!" And with that the fifteen year old boy zoomed off.  
"Okay; I'm getting that kid for this later." Once-ler muttered bitterly as his brows knit together a little and his shoulders drooped.  
Daisy giggled lightly, placing a bent finger to his bottom lip. "Oh Ted...he's so cute."  
"Hah, oh yeah...sure. _Cute_." Once-ler said flatly. He cleared his throat quickly and straightened up and looked over at Daisy with a small laugh. "So um..."  
Daisy laughed, motioning her head to her house as she began to walk towards it. "Come on."  
Once-ler nodded quickly as he cleared his throat a little, catching up with Daisy. "A-Alright! Thanks again, by the way!"  
Daisy giggled, nodding. "Of course. You know...not to be mean or anything but...having Once-ler's grandson come to see little truffulas is a little ironic..." She said, looking at him.  
Once-ler laughed a little with a shrug and nodded, an awkward smile curved on his lips. "Heh," He chuckled. "Yeah I know."  
Daisy waved a hand down as she opened the white picket fence leading to her backyard, clearing her throat. "Sorry, that's a really bad way to start off." She mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.  
"No, no! It's fine, really!" Once-ler said quickly as he waved his hands with a quick shake of his head. "I-It's just I guess it's just err, well..!" He stopped short.

Was it really the best idea to have a conversation like this? Especially if that conversation is about_ YOURSELF_?

Daisy furrowed a brow and looked back at him, smiling a bit as they slowly walked into the backyard "What is it..?" She asked. Her eyes widened slightly, holding her hands to her chest and her face flushing red with embarrassment. "I'm not making you uncomfortable am I? I have a tendency to do that sometimes to people I've just met..."  
"No, no, no!" Once-ler said quickly as he waved his hands again. "No, really it's FINE! To be honest that seems to be the only talk I've heard really since I've come into town." He finished with a shrug. It was very true; he had been a popular topic. People were whispering about what a great mystery he was, some debates raged on whether or not he was a good person, the list just goes on and on. At least in this case this woman had a sense of common sense out of all the other people he overheard, who had gotten an IMENSE amount of facts wrong anyway.  
Daisy sighed lightly with a smile, nodding her head a little. "Alright...good, good." She said. Her eyes widened again, quickly standing in front of him and waving her hands. "W-Well not GOOD! I just mean word travels fast around Thneedville and I mean it's GOOD that I didn't really insult you and...um...OKAY! Let's go check out those little truffula trees okay?!"  
Once-ler laughed and nodded as he followed after Daisy when she hurried along to a small patch of truffula tree sprouts. "It's okay, you know! I don't mind talking about it if you're INTERESTED."  
Daisy laughed, waving her hand as she knelt down on the grassy patch in front of the small truffula trees, smiling and touching the multi-colored tufts. "No, I don't like talking about other people. It feels like spying to me..."  
This surprised Once-ler. He couldn't help but laugh a little with surprise as he knelt down next to Daisy slowly and looked down at the small truffula, petting the tuffs on a yellow truffula tree sprout with a finger. "Well...huh. Gotta be honest you'll be the first to say that."  
Daisy smiled, looking at Once-ler with a small giggle. "Am I?" She asked.  
Once-ler nodded. "YEAH! I mean I've been hearing a lot of talk about me—The Once-ler—err I mean GRANDPA, since I came here. People seem to find him really interested in him."  
Daisy stood up with a chuckle, walking through the maze of many sized truffula trees towards a stack of watering cans. "We'll your grandpa made a really big difference in the world all these years ago..." She said, grabbing the yellow an orange can in her hands.  
Once-ler laughed nervously, clearing his throat awkwardly as he glanced away from Daisy. "True...true…"  
Daisy looked back at Once-ler, holding out the other watering can to him. "Do you want to help me water all of them?" She asked, changing the topic with a smile. "If we work together maybe I can be done before midnight."  
Nodding with a bright smile, Once-ler took the watering can from Daisy. "Sure, I'd love to help."  
_'Yes, yes, YES!_' He thought to himself with an inward grin as he did a mental fist-pump of victory.  
Daisy closed her green eyes with a nod, beginning to walk towards some smaller truffula trees. "Great!" She said with a smile, giggling and tilting the can down. "Thanks Once..."  
"It's no problem, really—wait; "Once"?"  
"Yeah? Sorry, do you not want me to call you that? I just thought it's better to call you that instead of "Once-ler", that way I don't get confused with your grandpa."  
Once-ler nodded with a broad smile as he waved a hand down, tilting his hat up a little when it drooped in front of his face. "Say no more. Totally understandable." He said with a small laugh and made his way over to the outdoor faucet, whistling casually. His gaze slowly moved over towards Daisy as she searched for another watering can and then back down at the watering can, staring into it at his reflection. "So...just er...CURIOUS really...uh...what exactly do you THINK of my er...grandfather...?" _'This is the most awkward thing I have ever done...'_ Once-ler thought to himself quickly with a shake of his head and scrunched up his nose.  
But his thoughts were interrupted when he heard Daisy begin to angrily rant. "-I think he's a mean,_ greedy_, _selfish_, rotten, old man who deserves to sit in a room for all eternity and think and dwell about what he's done to my poor baby truffula trees." She finally spilled out, gripping onto her watering can tightly with a tense face. She looked at Once-ler, smiling shyly. "No offense to you."  
Once-ler winced at the rant, faking a laugh and smile telling Daisy it was fine before slowly looking away from her. "_OUCH_..." He muttered quietly with a pained expression and placing a hand on his chest. "Yeesh, I think that rant actually STABBED ME, holy COW..!" Once-ler quickly looked back at Daisy, clearing his throat as he slowly turned off the faucet with a small shrug. "Well...that I get, I seriously do but...I mean he DID give Ted the last truffula tree seed and told him to plant it..." He suggested, hoping to at least show that he wasn't really THAT bad. Well NOW, anyway.  
Daisy looked down at the ground, shrugging her small shoulders a little. "Maybe so..." She admitted with a small sigh, sprinkling water over the little sprouts in front of her. "I mean...he's trying to atone for it but...what he did is just NOT a_ FORGIVE_ and _FORGET_ kind of thing. Not for me anyway..."  
She looked at Once-ler, laughing a little and rubbing the back of her neck. "Sorry, trash talking your family isn't really a good thing to do, especially to someone you just met and is willing to help you out is it? Jeeze my social skills are really bad..."  
"Oh no!" Once-ler waved his hands for a third time while shaking his head. "It's understandable for why you feel that way, REALLY!" He sighed with a small shrug, picking up the watering can off the ground and slowly made his way towards a small patch of truffula sprouts the opposite side of where Daisy was and began to water them. Once-ler thought for a moment, his brows arching up almost with worry. It wasn't that he didn't DESERVE the bad talk he was getting here in Thneedville, he did... But he just wanted to clean up his name in the talk that was going about. Once-ler didn't really CARE about it in a sense of being in the limelight like how he used to but to have his name pop up and something GOOD to follow after, that...that would be nice...  
"Hey, Once..?"  
Once-ler's head jerked up a little, his eyes widening a little with surprise. "Wha—huh, what?!" He asked, startled and looking over back at Daisy. "What's up?"  
Daisy looked at him and smiled, holding the watering can in front of herself. "Would you...I don't know, maybe want to come back here every couple days..? I mean, I know I've been kinda rude but, it's nice to have another body here and maybe we can get to know each other better..?"  
A grin almost instantly spread across Once-ler's face when he heard this request. "Yeah sure! That'd be REALLY great actually!" He replied almost too quickly and a wee bit TOO enthusiastically.  
Daisy looked at him with slightly wide eyes, eventually laughing with a smile and a nod. "Okay! So it's a date?"  
"A-A-A...A _date_...?" Once-ler nearly fainted at the word and his face slowly turned red as his eyes widened.  
Daisy slowly nodded, laughing again. "Yeah a date." She said, slowly raising an eyebrow. "Are...you okay? Your cheek's all red..."  
Once-ler swallowed hard and quickly hid his face into his fedora, waving a hand as he nodded with a small laugh. "Yeah, yeah! I-I'm FINE..!"  
Daisy sighed and shook her head with a smile, walking up to Once-ler and tapping the fedora up out of his face. "Alright come on, stop blushing and let's get busy tall boy."  
"Y-Yes ma'am!"  
Daisy giggled, patting Once-ler's cheek gently before retuning back to her half of the yard, humming quietly as she went back to tending the truffulas.

The two worked for hours, but time seemed to fly for Once-ler. Before he even realized it, the sun was down, the city life had died down a little and the lampposts were all being switched on. He looked up at the night sky as he slowly rose up from his knees, dusting himself off and rubbing his dirt covered hands together. "Oh wow, look at that. What time is it?" Once-ler asked as he looked over at Daisy.  
Daisy looked back at a shelf and grabbed a small wrist watch, tilting it towards the light. "It's almost 11:00." She said, looking back up at Once-ler with a smile. "You better get going."  
"Yeah, guess so..." Once-ler said slowly as he walked over towards the picket fence door. He looked back at Daisy, waving his hand with a smile. "It was really nice meeting you."  
Daisy closed her eyes and smiled, nodding and waving her dirt covered hand back. "It was really nice meeting you too. Come over any time, I'll be here."  
Once-ler laughed a little as he waved again and slowly opened the picket fence door and left Daisy's yard, closing it behind himself. He slowly began to walk down the sidewalk, a grin spreading across his face as he rounded a corner. Once-ler sighed, slowly placing his hands behind his head and looked up at the sky as he walked. "That didn't go too bad..." He admitted to himself. "Actually, that was pretty great..."  
There was suddenly a deep hearty laugh.  
"GREAT?! She INSULTED YOU so many TIMES!"  
Recognizing the voice, Once-ler stopped walking and let his arms drop, shrugging as he looked back behind himself. "Well I thought it was going to be a LOT _worse_, so..."  
The owner of the voice stepped out from behind the lamppost, walking next to Once-ler with a chuckle. "It was pretty bad though Beanpole...if she found out who you are she wouldn't be too happy..."  
"Yeah I know, I know." Once-ler said flatly with a roll of his eyes and continued to walk down the sidewalk, placing his hands into his pockets. "But she _didn't _find out and doesn't seem to be catching on so, it'll be alright."  
The Lorax shrugged, nodding his head. "Alright, alright. But what if she DOES find out? What will you do _then_? DENY IT?"  
Once-ler stopped walking again and thought for a moment. "I'll...figure something out..."  
"I'm sure you will, Beanpole."  
Once-ler frowned and looked back at The Lorax with a questioning expression. "What the heck is THAT supposed to mean?"  
The Lorax shrugged, placing his hands behind his back. "Nothing. I'm just saying."  
"Oh NO," Once-ler strode up in front of the forest guardian and pointed a finger at him, bending down so they were at a closer eye level. "You don't "just say" ANYTHING." He said while furrowing a brow and squinting an eye at The Lorax. "You meant SOMETHING."  
The Lorax shrugged again, looking up at Once-ler with an unamused expression. "So?"  
"SO, what the heck are you trying to tell me here?!"  
"You'll blow your cover eventually and then she'll spread it to the rest of Thneedville and you'll be ruined."  
Once-ler stared at The Lorax, eyes wide with shock. His expression turned into infuriation as he stood up straight quickly and turned on his heels to turn his back to the forest guardian. He briskly began to walk off, sighing loudly with aggravation and threw his hands up in the air. "Sometimes you're just...SO...UUGH!"  
The Lorax held up his hands, eyes wide. "What?!" He yelled out. "I'm just telling the truth!"  
"I KNOW you are, and that's why it's driving me up a WALL!"  
"Then stop complaining already!"  
"I'm not COMPLAINING!" Once-ler retorted as he looked back at The Lorax quickly with annoyance. "I'm just SAYING, if you don't think that just going along with all of this and hoping for the best won't work then what WILL?"  
The Lorax shrugged, walking around Once-ler. "I don't know." He said. "Maybe it's best if you stay anti-social for a while. Or _forever_."  
Once-ler raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding right? YOU'RE the one who CAME UP with this idea mind you, and you ALSO wanted me to go and start interacting with people RIGHT AWAY!" He yelled as he once again stopped walking and held out his arms as he leaned down in The Lorax's face. "NOW you're telling me to go back to how I was before?!"  
The Lorax nodded with a shrug, pointing a finger up at Once-ler. "You're gonna get too close to some of them Beanpole. Just keep your distance! That's all I saying!"  
"Keep my distance?" Once-ler repeated. Now he was BEYOND frustrated. "You know what?! Forget it!" He said irritably as he began to storm off down the sidewalk.  
"Beanpole!" The Lorax called out to the angered Once-ler. "Come on! I'm just trying to look out for you!"  
"I know you are but at least give me some space to BREATHE!" Once-ler snapped before disappearing around a corner of a building.  
The Lorax let out a 'humph!', crossing his arms and turning away, closing his eyes. "_Fine_!" He yelled. "I'll leave you alone Beanpole! Let's see how long you'll keep your secret without me!"

"AAAAAAAAAUGH!"  
Once-ler screamed his head off into his pillow, his face bright red with anger. After throwing his tantrum, he flopped onto his stomach, still holding the pillow to his face and let out a sigh.  
Then Once-ler blew his top again.  
"Why in the world is this all so _COMPLICATED_?!" He screamed into his pillow, banging his fists on his bed with frustration. Once-ler blew off his steam for another half hour, most of the time screaming into his pillow. When he couldn't scream anymore he gave the wall a hard punch. Not exactly his smartest move.  
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Once-ler hissed as he held onto his wrist gingerly and plopped down onto his bed, cursing under his breath.  
That's when there was a knock on his door. "Hey uh...Once-ler..?" A voice asked, obviously belonging to Ted.  
"Y-Yeah? Yeah, what is it, Ted?!" Once-ler called back as he rubbed his hand slowly, wincing a little with a small hiss of pain. "Sprained it." He muttered bitterly and sighed with annoyance. "You gotta be KIDDING me..."  
"Um...well mom just finished putting dinner out and I wanted to know if you wanted to come eat..?" The teenage boy asked.  
"Oh! Uh...sure, I'm coming." Once-ler sighed and rose up to his feet, making his way over to the door in the guest room he was staying at and opened the door.  
A smiling Ted greeted him, beginning to walk and motioning his head down towards the stairs. "Come on!"  
Once-ler couldn't help but smile a little, drawing in a deep breath as he followed after Ted and took off his fedora. He knew that it was impolite to wear hats at the table, and well, he wanted to make up for his bad first impression he put on for Ted's family when he came over with a terrible optimistic cover up and then storming up to the guest room as soon as he could with his temper still boiling from the argument he had with the furry meatloaf.  
When he got down the stairs finally, he saw the most peculiar objects on the kitchen table. It looked like...multicolored JELLO MOLDS shaped like food, or just blocks of jello with a small object in the center, like a fish or a cow.  
"Uhhhh...what's that..?" Once-ler asked quietly as he leaned down so only Ted could hear him, making a perplexed expression and knitting his brows.  
Ted smiled, motioning to the table. "Welcome to dinner!"  
"...Wait, SERIOUSLY?"  
Ted nodded.  
Once-ler slowly stood up straight, furrowing a brow with a baffled expression. "Okay, I SERIOUSLY didn't think what I did affected everything THAT MUCH." He said quickly with wide eyes.  
Ted shrugged. "I guess it did."  
Once-ler shook his head slowly, rubbing the back of his head as he made his way over to the table. "Well...food is food anyway, I guess. Can't hurt to give it a shot, right?"  
Ted smiled and shook his head, sitting himself down at the table.  
Almost right when Once-ler seated himself at the table, two voices piped up from the kitchen. "Oh I don't need your help! I can get myself to the table just fine!" Grammy Norma shuffled out of the kitchen entrance and made her way over to the table, hopping down in the seat next to Once-ler.  
"Ma!" The other voice called out from the kitchen, Ms.W walking out with crossed arms. "You know I was trying to help you out."  
"Ah, I can take care of myself!" Norma said with a wave of a hand.  
Ms.W rolled her eyes, smiling at Once-ler and Ted as she took her spot at the table.  
Once-ler smiled back and nodded his head to the two women. "Hello , Ms.W–"  
"You don't need to be formal here, sonny!" Norma laughed. She looked over at her daughter and smiled, revealing that she didn't have her teeth in. "Oh dear, would you mind..?"  
Ms.W sighed loudly, pushing back her chair. "Again Ma?"  
"Sorry, dear." Norma said apologetically as Ms.W made her way up the steps.  
Once-ler watched as Ted's mother walked up the steps and slowly turned his head to look at the teenage boy but let out a yelp of surprise when he saw leaning close to his face with a smirk. "Ah—! Uhh...yes?"  
"How'd you _DO IT_...?" Norma asked slowly.  
"Do...do what?"  
The old woman raised an eyebrow at the young raven haired man, crossing her arms as she slowly leaned back into her seat. "You know what, -ler... Grammy Norma remembers ALL."  
Ted glanced between his grandma and Once-ler, laughing a little. "Uhh...Grammy..."  
_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_  
Ted looked over at the door, furrowing a brow "Huh. We weren't expecting anyone..." He stated, slowly standing up from his chair.  
_Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong!_  
The doorbell incessantly rang as Ted made his way over to the door. When he opened the door, there stood a teenage girl who was obviously quite tomboy with her baggy orange and white sweater jacket with a black skull on the bottom of it, orange skullcap and skateboard tucked under her arm.  
"Hey Ted." She said with a small nod of her head.  
Ted couldn't help but grin, laughing. "Hey, Cleo!"  
Cleo, the tomboy laughed a little and gave her friend a small hi-five before entering the house. "Sorry to barge in outta nowhere man, but can I crash here for tonight?" She asked.  
Ted nodded, smiling and closing the door. "Yeah sure. Mom won't mind." He said with a shrug.  
"Thanks bud. I owe ya one, seriously." Cleo said with a small sigh of relief and walked on over to the dining room. "Oh what're you guys—"  
Then she saw Once-ler.  
"...Who's the lamppost?"  
"Uhhh...oh!" Ted walked over towards Once-ler, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. "Cleo, this is my friend, Once."  
Cleo furrowed a brow quickly with a small frown when Once-ler waved, holding up a finger. "So like short for Once-ler or somethin'? 'Cause there's like this word going around Thneedville about this nutto he ran across a busy street and landed face down in the concrete, was that YOU? Cause they said his name was named after the Once-ler old dude and...whatever...?"  
Once-ler laughed a little, his voice growing flat as he glanced over towards the wall. "One of those towns, huh?"  
"Word spreads quick here in Thneedville." Cleo shrugged.  
Ted shrugged with a nod. "It's true. But yeah, that's him alright."  
Cleo slowly nodded, placing a hand on her chin as she set her skateboard down. "Huh...well I'll just call ya O.L then for short, cool with you?"  
Once-ler rose an eyebrow awkwardly. "Uhh...yeah...sure...that's...cool, I guess...?"  
Cleo snickered and shook her head as she made her way over towards the dining room table, crossing her arms. "You aren't from ANYWHERE near here, are you?"  
Ted looked at Once-ler, then at Cleo with a chuckle and slow shake of his head. "Nooooope."  
"You have NO idea…" Once-ler laughed with a slow shake of his head.  
"You REALLY should've had an alias or something before you came here." Cleo chuckled with a small smirk as she plopped down onto the couch by the table. "Being named after THE Once-ler and all, Samuel's gonna be snooping into your business now."  
Ted slowly groaned, placing his head down on the table with his eyes closed. "Oh man..." He groaned. "I didn't think about that..."  
"Who's Samuel?" Once-ler asked, looking back and forth at Cleo and Ted.  
"Thneedville's youngest reporter," Cleo explained with a wave of her hand. "And the BEST. If that Brit wanted to get to the bottom of something and figure out a secret, he'll do everything he can to solve the case and WILL in the end. He always does."  
"He's ANNOYING." Ted groaned again, banging his head lightly on the table. "I can't stand him."  
Cleo smirked a little, rolling her eyes with a small chuckle. "Oor, you're just jealous that him an' Audrey are going steady, dude. Seriously, just get OVER her."  
Ted quickly looked up at Cleo, pointing a finger at her. "NO! THEY ARE NOT GOING STEADY IT'S A RUMOR!" He yelled at his friend.  
"Whoa, whoa!" Cleo laughed as she waved her hands down. "Cool your engines Ted, sheesh... Either way; you're a freshman. She's a senior. It wouldn't have worked out anyway, it never does." She said with a small shrug and placed her hands behind her head. "And isn't that like a legal pedophile case, anyway?"  
Ted sighed loudly, hanging his head. "Yeah I guess so..."  
"Oh c'mon dude! I'm just trying to look out for you and save you from some serious heartache! Oh! Hey, I know what'll cheer you up!" Cleo winked with a small smirk and pulled out a disk carrier from her front pocket. "Guess who got the new Battle-X Mega Zone III game and brought it over..." She waved the disk carrier in Ted's face slowly.  
Ted slowly began to smile, glancing over at Cleo with now a wide grin, sitting up straight. "You...?" He asked while rubbing his hands together.  
"Thank me later!" Cleo said as she hopped off of the couch and grabbed her skateboard off the floor. "C'mon, let's warm 'er up and get playing! You can eat later!" She said quickly as she grabbed Ted by his arm and began to drag him along, abruptly stopping when she noticed Once-ler's black and blue hand. The tomboy pointed to it with a raised eyebrow. "Might wanna put some ice on that and wrap it up, man. Just sayin'. Punching walls do heavy duty damage."  
"How did you know that—"  
"Used to do it all the time whenever I needed to blow off some steam!" Cleo said as she and Ted rushed up the steps, brushing past Ms.W as she came down the steps. "Sup, Ms.W!"  
Ms.W looked back at Cleo and Ted, furrowing a brow with a smile. "Oh, Cleo!"  
"Sorry, but I've gotta crash here again!" Cleo's voice rang. "The usual reason with my folks! Oh, and O.L needs ice for his hand! He punched a wall!" She added causally.  
Ms.W furrowed a brow more, glancing down over at Once-ler as she made her way down the stairs. "Just now?" She asked.  
Once-ler laughed awkwardly as he waved his hand, unfortunately not realizing it was the bad one and instantly regretted moving it when his hand stung terribly. "A-Ah, no...heh, I was well...kinda fussing over an argument I had with a friend a while ago and er...well, I just had a dumb moment is all."  
Ms.W sighed with a smile, shaking her head and grabbing Once-ler by his wrist and beginning to pull him towards the kitchen. "Come on," She said. "Lets get your ice."  
"Thank you, ." Once-ler said with a smile as he allowed himself to be guided along to the kitchen. His smile couldn't help but widen at the motherly sense he was feeling from Ted's mother. She wasn't his mom, he knew that. But compared to his mother's treatment, this a lot nicer.  
Ms.W set Once-ler down at the table with a shake of her head and a chuckle, grabbing a pouch and heading towards the freezer. "Now," She started, glancing back at Once-ler with a smile. "Should I not bother with asking what friend of yours made you so angry you had to punch at the wall?"  
"Well..." Once-ler glanced down at the floor as he thrummed the table with the fingers on his good hand. "I just got mad because he told me that I have to take it easy on meeting people in this town and not to get too attached just in case...er..things don't go well here."  
Ms.W looked back at Once-ler as she began to put ice in the pouch. "It wasn't Ted was it?"  
"Oh no, no!" Once-ler said quickly and shook his head. "No, he actually is kinda saying the opposite. And I just feel a little torn." He huffed and rested his head against his good hand. "I came from a er...pretty dark past, I guess you could say. And I want to give this another chance but...I dunno, I also don't want anyone else to get caught up NOW in what happened THEN, or have it change opinions on me..." His eyes suddenly widened with realization and laughed awkwardly as he sank down into his chair. "Sorry...I'm kinda just going on and on, aren't I...?"  
Ms.W laughed, waving a hand as she closed the freezer and held out the now filled with ice pouch to Once-ler. "No it's fine. I'm used to it. Shoulda heard Ted when he found out about Audrey and Samuel."  
"Oh man, that must have been hard on him..." Once-ler chuckled as he took the ice pouch and carefully set it down on his sprained hand with a small hiss.  
Ms.W chuckled, patting Once-ler's head with a smile as she began to walk out of the kitchen. "You can eat whenever you like okay? I'll leave it out for you."  
Once-ler smiled and nodded as he looked back at . "Thanks again."

_'Okay...this might actually work out, after all...'_

**_CHARACTER CHART:_**

**_The Once-ler: Isabel_**

**_Ted Wiggins: Kayla_**

**_The Lorax: Kayla_**

**_Daisy Elizabeth Belle: Kayla_**

**_Grammy Norma: Isabel_**

**_Ms.W: Kayla_**

**_Cleo: Isabel_**

* * *

**_Okay! Kayla here~ We had to do a lot of editing to this chapter. ;;; It wasn't letting us fully write out Ted's Moms name (Ms.W******). -_- So annoying. But yes! Anyway here's Chapter 3. And more should be coming your way soon. ;) Stay tuned and spread the word please to fellow The Lorax writers! Critique and reviews are appreciated. :)_**

**_HAPPY READING~_**


	4. Chapter 4: Curiouser and Curiouser

Chapter 4: Curiouser and Curiouser

Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong...ding-dong

"Hello?! -ler?! Helllooooo?!"

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

The raping on The Once-ler's door went on and on, doorbell rings following after as the young male British accented voice called for him for nearly a full ten minutes.

Audrey sighed, shaking her head with a small smile, her shoulders raising up as she crossed her arms. "Samuel," She started. "Maybe he's not home..?"

"But that doesn't make any sense though, love-sprout!" The blonde British reporter said quickly. He tapped his foot quickly as he placed his hands on his hips and sighed, running a hand over the tuff in the front of his hairline and looked up at the tall Lerkim, examining it. "The Once-ler NEVER leaves his home, and is too old to. The tot himself said so."

Audrey chuckled lightly, smiling and walking up to Samuel, wrapping his arms around his arm. "He has a NAME you know." He lightly scolded him.

Samuel laughed a little and kissed Audrey's hand with a small smile. "Sorry, love-sprout." He apologized. "Ted, said so himself." There was a long pause. "The name...Ted, yes it fits him but it doesn't sound right..." Samuel muttered with a small grimace. "Tot fits him much better."

Audrey rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Uh huh." She said, kissing Samuel's cheek. "Whatever you say."

"I'm going to try knocking again." Samuel declared and knocked on the door once again. "Hello?!" He reached out for the doorknob and slowly wrapped his fingers around it—"Oh fancy that," He let himself inside the Lerkim with a small whistling tune. "The door's open."

"Samuel!"

"What?" Samuel called, popping his head out the door. "He's not here."

Audrey sighed, looking around before stepping just outside the doorframe, glancing around inside of the Lerkim with a small frown. "But you don't have a RIGHT to be here. Isn't this, ILLEGAL or something?" She asked.

Samuel smiled, holding up the camera hanging around his neck and snapped a picture of Audrey. "Don't worry, love-sprout," He said. "I'm a reporter." And with that, back inside the nosy reporter went.

"Samuel-" Audrey stopped herself. There wasn't any way she could convince him to stop. So with that in mind she cautiously stepped into the Lerkim, following after Samuel and closing the door softly behind her.

When Audrey turned around after closing the door, she found her boyfriend doing his typical actions as a reporter does; rummaging through the things that did not belong to them. He nodded slowly in approval, placing every item he moved back to where he had found it and exactly how. "I'm quite surprised of how well kept everything is..." Samuel wiped the dust layering his hands on his pants. "Could use a bit of dusting however..."

Audrey looked around, furrowing a brow a little. "We really shouldn't be touching his things..."

"Don't worry, I won't take anything." Samuel reassured with a smile as he looked around slowly before making his way into the kitchen. He made a disgusted expression and slapped his hands over his mouth and nose, gagging. "D-Don't come in here, Audrey! Augh, what in the WORLD is that ODER..?!"

Audrey peered inside the kitchen as best she could, frowning with confusion. "What is it?"

"I-I don't know, love-sprout; but it smells BY FAR FOUL!" Samuel grimaced and covered his mouth and nose with the crook of his arm. "There is NO WAY The Once-ler was in here! Otherwise he would have noticed the smell and gotten rid of the source of it and his kitchen wouldn't be smelling the way it is NOW!"

Audrey slowly made her way up to the kitchen, taking an experimental sniff and immediately regretting it, her nose scrunching up and her hands covering her mouth. "It smells like something DIED in there!" She exclaimed through her hands, muffling her voice.

"Probably DID!" Samuel laughed as he searched for the source of the smell. His eyes directed over towards the trash can and made his way over, taking out his pen from his pocket and cautiously took off the trash can lid with it. He gasped, eyes wide. "By GEORGE, I can't believe it..!"

Audrey quickly looked at him, eyes wide. "What?!" She rushed over next to the dumbfounded Samuel and gasped herself, eyes widening a little more.

There in the trash can had two pancakes in it but not exactly NORMAL pancakes. They had a golden aura all around them and small truffula sprouts, flowers, and even GRASS was growing on them. It was almost like the pancakes were recreating the image of what the truffula forest had looked like before it became a wasteland.

"Incredible..." Samuel breathed. "Simply INCREDIBLE..."

Audrey slowly reached a finger out, holding into Samuel's arm as she reached to touch the small truffula sprout. "How is this even POSSIBLE..?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm not sure..." Samuel snapped a picture of the pancakes quickly and slowly shook his head. "But I'll find out sooner or later, I know that much."

Audrey nodded. "Mmhm..."

"HEY!" A voice suddenly called out from behind the two teenagers.

Audrey and Samuel whirled around, eyes wide. Samuel's jaw dropped loosely, his shoulders slouching. "My GOODNESS...! You're the..!"

"The LORAX..." Audrey finished, the two staring at just that. And he was not a happy little Lorax either.

The Lorax frowned at the two of them, arms crossed with a bitter expression on his face. "What are you two nosy little brats doing here?"

"W-We were...ah..." Samuel motioned around the kitchen, laughing with a small shrug. "Looking for The Once-ler. I'd like to ask him a few questions."

The Lorax raised an eyebrow. "In the kitchen?"

"Well we just got here." Samuel shrugged. "We were doing a search around the house until we came across the FOUL smell in this kitchen. Ah, you're the speaker for the trees, yes?"

"So what if I am?"

"I was merely asking because of THIS," Samuel motioned towards the trashcan with a lopsided smile and furrowed a brow curiously. "Call me foolish, but last I checked VALLEYS don't GROW from PANCAKES."

The Lorax motioned a hand forward, shrugging. "Ever heard about the FORCES OF NATURE kid..?" He said slowly.

"Of course. I read it in an article of an interview with The Once-ler. And HE said that the forces of nature was just simply you making ridiculous noises and holding up two branches—"

"Alright, alright, alright!" The Lorax said loudly, waving his hands and closing his eyes. "Enough! You two, need to GET OUT! You're trespassing on private property!"

"But aren't you CONCERNED?!" Samuel asked quickly with a frown, motioning around. "The Once-ler, who I am sure is by NOW considered a friend, is MISSING and—"

"He's dead." The Lorax simply responded as he began pushing Samuel out the kitchen the best he could.

"Dea—Wait, WHAT?" Samuel said quickly with a confused expression. "That doesn't SOUND RIGHT, the tot—TED would have said something about The Once-ler being—"

"He died last night okay?!"

Samuel planted his feet to the floor and abruptly stopped allowing The Lorax to push him out the door. He smiled kindly and glanced back at the forest guardian. "I don't believe you."

The Lorax frowned again, crossing his arms quickly. "I never said you HAD TO."

"So he's NOT dead." Samuel declared.

"I never said that."

"But you JUST said that I DIDN'T have to BELIEVE you." Samuel stated. "So you're really just trying to get rid of me and Audrey, OR perhaps you're saying that he's NOT NOT NOT dead, and that this has all just turned into an occurence of events."

The Lorax frowned even more, only this time with confusion. Darn this kid could mess with his head.

"AH HA!" Samuel said with a grin and pointed towards The Lorax. "THE ONCE-LER'S IN THNEEDVILLE!"

The Lorax's eyes widened slightly, taking a step back. "Wh-What?!"

Samuel smirked, crossing his arms with a small nod. "THAT was just a test. By your reaction I know DO KNOW for a fact that The Once-ler is fine and well and is currently staying in Thneedville! The statement I had made was just meant to throw you off so I could catch you by surprise. Come on, love-sprout!" He said with a smile and held out an arm towards Audrey. "It's time for the hunt!"

Audrey smiled a little, looking down at The Lorax with an expression that read; "Sorry!", before taking Samuel's arm and wrapping both of hers around his, the two beginning to walk out together.

"Daisy, it's FINE just don't touch—ow, ow,ow!" Once-ler winced when Daisy quickly took his sprained hand in own and examined it carefully.

Her eyebrows arched up as she looked at it, a small pout of concern on her face. "Oh Once..." She said. "How did you hurt yourself? It's only your second day here right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Once-ler laughed and rubbed the back of his head with a small nod. "I-I have pretty bad luck..."

Daisy smiled a bit, looking up at Once-ler. "Well I can guarantee you'll live." She said, kissing Once-ler's sprained wrist gently with a small giggle. "It just needs some good old fashioned love and care, or an ace bandage."

Once-ler's eyes widened, his cheeks turning a dark crimson with blush. "E-Er...heh, maybe a brace'd be nice too..." He chuckled with a small shrug.

Daisy chuckled, nodding. She motioned her hand down for Once-ler to sit on the couch as she began to walk off towards a bathroom on the main floor. "Sit down silly." She giggled.

Once-ler nodded, his cheeks still red as he sat himself down on the couch slowly, drumming his leg with his good hand as his gaze slowly moved around the living room. "Whoa...her house is so organized...it's NOTHING like mine—" He froze, eyes widening. He just got a STRONG feeling in the pit of his stomach...and it was making him reach a boiling point. "SOMEBODY IS IN MY LERKIM...!" Once-ler said through grit teeth and eyebrows twitching with anger as his bitter hermit personality returned. He had been living in paranoia for a good while, and it almost gave him an ability to easily sense certain things—mainly when some stranger poked their nose around the Lerkim. "Keep your cool..." Once-ler told himself through grit teeth. "Keep your cool; keep your cool—THEY'RE GOING THROUGH MY STUFF, I KNOW IT!" He screamed as he jumped up to his feet in frenzy.

"Uhhh...Once-ler..?"

Once-ler froze, his blood running cold and body turning to stone. He rigidly looked back, his face going pale when he saw Daisy standing there clear as day right behind him. Going into a frenzy again Once-ler screamed his usual high pitched scream out of surprise, holding up his arms in self-defense. "D-DAISY DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE!" He said through his anxious and embarrassed laughter.

'My life is over...'

Daisy laughed a bit, her eyebrows arching up as she motioned back to the bathroom with one hand, an ace bandage in the other. "I was just in the other room..." She said slowly.

"Right, right, right! O-Of course you were!"

Daisy laughed again, walking over to Once-ler. She made him sit down again, smiling as she took his bad wrist and began to wrap the ace bandage around it. "This will help keep your wrist from moving around too much." She explained.

Once-ler nodded, forcing out a laugh and a crooked smile forming on his face as he attempted to keep self-restraint. "I-I see, that's helpful, REALLY HELPFUL!"

'I'm freaking out, I'm freaking out...!' He cried in his mind, his stomach churning in unnatural ways. 'Somebody's in the lerkim, I KNOW IT..! Wh-Why didn't mustache s-send them AWAY..?! Was he not a-able to, could it have been—WHAT DOES IT MATTER?! SOMEBODY IS INVADING MY PERSONAL SPACE...!' Once-ler felt his insides tremble and his blood was draining from his face. 'K-Keep it TOGETHER, Once-ler...!' He told himself. 'I-I can't just WALK OUT especially on DAISY..! That'd be RUDE!' His mind switched gears. 'BUT WHAT IF THEY TAKE SOMETHING?! The door is so close to me..! I could just pop out quick! Ted can give me a ride; it wouldn't take long at all...! NO! DON'T DO IT! But I GOTTA!' Once-ler felt his entire body run cold, and he was sure his face was turning blue from anxiety. 'INTERNAL CONFLICT...TOO...MUCH...! BASIC NEEDS...CANCELING...! CAN'T...BREATHE...!'

"Oh god are you ALRIGHT..?!" Daisy suddenly asked, her voice sounding full of panic. "Your face is like BLUE!"

That's when Once-ler finally snapped. He gasped loudly for air and bolted up, his long legs trembling as he made his way for the door. "I NEED AIR..!" He gasped, bolting outside and leaning against his legs as he panted heavily, his face returning to its natural color. Once-ler placed a trembling hand on his chest, eyes wide. "Wh-Why of ALL TIMES did I have ro have an anxiety attack NOW...?" He muttered through grit teeth. "I totally FLIPPED OUT in there, now Daisy probably thinks I'm a total WACKJOB...!"

The gentle tap tap tap against the sidewalk was heard, a small clearing of the throat following shortly after it stopped. "Are you doing alright Once..?"

Once-ler nodded shakily, a weary smile spreading across his face as he closed his eyes and hung his head. "Yeah, yeah...I-I'm gr-great...!"

Daisy walked up to Once-ler and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking at him. "Are you sure? Do you need to go to the HOSPITAL or..?"

Once-ler shook his head a little, laughing with a small sigh. "No, no, I'm not very fond of hospitals anyway," 'Because then I'd be caught for SURE..!' He cried in his head in a panic. "I-I...just get little anxiety attacks now and then, I'll be okay!" Once-ler promised with a wave of his hand. 'And being locked up inside that confined Lerkim for an entire lifetime is DEFINITELY not the cause of it!'

Daisy smiled a little, placing a hand on Once-ler's forehead. "Okay..." She said, pulling her hand a bit back from his forehead. "Just don't die on me..." She giggled, closing her eyes.

Once-ler laughed again as he looked up at Daisy and made an okay sign with his fingers. "Can do," He said, his breathing finally calm again and all composure returning.

Daisy smiled a bit more, opening her eyes. She took Once-ler's good hand and began to lead her back to her house, eyebrows arching up a little. "Come on. You need to calm down a bit." She said.

"Okay...sorry about that, by the way...only met you yesterday and I'm already having panic attacks in front if you..." Once-ler groaned as he hanged his head in shame.

Daisy laughed, shaking her head with a smile. "Don't worry about it. I have three brothers that act like that on a daily basis so it's fine." She reassured him.

"Wait what?" Once-ler's eyes widened. "You have BROTHERS..?"

Daisy nodded, rubbing the back of her head and laughing. "Yeah..." She said. "Two younger ones and an older one."

"Really?"

Daisy nodded again.

Once-ler chuckled a little, raising an eyebrow. "Wow, I never would've guessed THAT," He said.

Daisy furrowed a brow a little as she looked back at Once-ler, smiling. "You know, EVERYONE says that-"

" , ! EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!" A young female voice cried. Daisy and Once-ler's heads whipped around to see running down the sidewalk towards them was a young girl looking to be about Audrey's age, seventeen or eighteen, with brown braided hair, freckles and large framed glasses. She wore a school uniform and was carrying a cardboard box in her arms filled with dirt and a limping truffula tree sprout with a panicked expression. "TRUFFULA DOWN! TRUFFULA DOWN!" She cried.

Daisy gasped, her eyes widening as she quickly hurried over to this girl. "Oh no..." She held onto the box with her hands, looking down at the truffula sprout with arched up eyebrows. "What happened?" She asked, looking up at the girl.

"Those...those motorcycle JERKS happened!" The girl cried, her eyes watering. "They were running over the truffla sprouts again!"

Once-ler frowned deeply when he heard this and slowly leaned against Daisy's house, crossing his arms. "And uh...WHO are these "motorcycle jerks" exactly..?" He asked slowly.

Daisy looked at Once-ler, shaking her head a little with a small smile. "No one. Just some stupid kids and O' Hare's nephew." She said.

"Well these kids sound more like TROUBLE than NOTHING." Once-ler said with a frown. He slowly walked over to Daisy and the girl, peering into the box. A relieved smile spread across his face and he nodded. "It'll be okay," Once-ler said gently as he reached inside the box and helped the truffula sprout rise up a little. "Just needs a brace to lean on for a few months until the stem straightens out again and becomes more stronger."

Daisy smiled a nodded her head, looking up at Once-ler and their eyes meeting. "How did you know..?" She asked.

Once-ler shrugged, smiling faintly with a small chuckle. "Just...intuition I guess..."

Daisy's smile softened. "Yeah..." She said. "Intuition..."

The girl tilted her head a little to the side with confusion and furrowed a brow as she adjusted her classes. "Uhhh...who is this guy? I've never seen him before..."

Daisy tore her eyes away from Once-ler and smiled at the girl. "Oh! Ímma! This is Once-ler!"

Ímma's eyes widened with surprise before she snatched the box away and ran back a full two meters away from Once-ler and Daisy with a hiss. "That name is CURSED..!" She hissed. "I thought we agreed to never speak of him..!"

Daisy's face softened a little, smiling and placing a hand on Once-ler's shoulders, glancing around and then at Ímma. "Ímma, Ímma! Calm down!" She giggled. "He's not a bad guy!"

Ímma hissed again, her eyebrows narrowing. "Is what the fellow soilder (pronunciation; Soil-der) say is true, then confirm it!" She hissed.

Daisy sighed and shook her head a little, smiling. "Ímma, the truffula..?" She mentioned, glancing down at it with her eyes.

"Oh yeah..." Ímma laughed a little, rubbing the back of her neck. "Right..." She took a few small steps towards Once-ler and bowed a little, setting the box down as she did. "Sorry sir, I just have a bad habit of getting away..."

Once-ler smiled awkwardly, a bit taken back at the young girl's change of behavior. "U-Uh..it's no problem, really...happens all the time. And you don't need to BOW you know."

Ímma looked up at Once-ler, smiling as her shoulders rose up. "Well...my origin is Japan with my family so it's kinda a...habit..." Her voice trailed off, eyes widening. "Oh my GOSH..."

"Ímma, calm down..." Daisy held out her hands and waved them a little, standing in front of Once-ler cautiously.

"Wait, wait! What's going on—"

"DAISY HOLD THE BOX!"

"GAH-!"

Two hands slapped onto Once-ler's cheeks and pulled him down by his face, an excited Ímma with glimmering eyes examining his face and poking at it. "YOUR EYELASHES ARE GORGEOUS!" She cried. "EVERY WOMAN THAT SEES THEM MUST ENVY YOU SO! AND LOOK HOW PLUSH THEY ARE, THEY'RE LIKE TRUFFULA TUFFS!"

"Í-ÍMMA!" Daisy half shouted, glancing around at the spying neighbors with embarrassment, her cheeks red. "N-Not HERE, PLEASE."

"BUT HE HAS THE FACE OF A PRINCE, LOOK AT HIM!"

Daisy sighed and smiled a bit with a nod, pulling Ímma away from Once-ler's face, glancing at him. "I'm aware." She said. "Now come on. We have a special shipment coming in from Riverston so I need your help in clearing some room for the sprouts."

"No way, really..?" Ímma asked as she began to follow Daisy to her house, dumbfounded. "I thought that place was totally destroyed like everywhere else and Thneedville was the only real city intact..."

Daisy shook her head a bit, smiling. "They've been trying to restore it and apparently those truffula sprouts that I sent out with our "soilders" last year haven't been doing so well, so they need a little medical attention while our guys go and clean that place up."

"Oh...I see..." Ímma froze, her eyes widening a little with realization as she slowly looked back. "Er...hey...how come he's just standing there like that...?" She asked slowly when her gaze turned to Once-ler who seemed frozen on the spot in the walkway.

Once-ler's heart nearly leapt up into his throat when he heard his hometown's name, his mind taking a turn into a flashback...to why Riverston was even destroyed in the first place...

_The Once-ler, founder and CEO of THNEEDSInc. sighed with annoyance as he rested his hand that rested against his office chair's armrest and his feet propped up on his desk as he talked on the phone. "For the last time, just get the job DONE! ...Okay, so what's the DELAY THEN?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes as he sat up a little to reach for a thick brown cigar and plucked it in his mouth. "Protestors, is that all?" Once-ler asked with a small frown and reached for his golden lighter. "Oh please, LET THEM chain themselves to the city gates for all I care, THEY'LL MOVE when the BULLDOZERS come in, TRUST ME. And besides, it's not like they can do anything to STOP ME. ...I don't care if that place was my hometown or not, either, so stop changing the subject or I'll go looking for somebody else to do the job FOR YOU and not waste any of my valuable time!" A smirk slowly curved across his face. "Now THAT'S what I like to hear...two to three weeks, tops..? Not bad, not bad at all...alright fine you've made me reconsider, as MERCIFUL as I am; be grateful." He added before hanging up and chuckled, lighting his cigar. "Well there goes one of my many things on my to-do-list..."_

_"Beanpole you can't be SERIOUS?!" A voice called out to him from behind._

_Once-ler slowly sighed and closed his eyes, a thick smog of tobacco escaping his lips. "Oh look..." He said in a flat tone slowly before taking a small puff of the cigar. "Right on time, as USUAL..."_

_A small grunt was heard, two orange furry hands suddenly reaching up on the edge of the desk, lifting up its owner which was none other than The Lorax. A rather ANGERED Lorax. "First you smog up the air, and NOW, you're smogging up your lungs! Whatever happened to eating MARSHMALLOWS?" He asked, crossing his arms and frowning. "And what's this about Riverston, huh?"_

_"Uh, can we move this along a bit more quicker than USUAL today?" Once-ler asked in a sarcastic tone with a faint smirk of pride and made a circling motion with his hand. "I have a MEETING later so I can't stick around for our highlight of the day conversations like I NORMALLY would."_

_"Why are you acting like such a JERK lately?" The Lorax asked. "Why are you getting rid of your HOMETOWN?"_

_"Because it's old, rusty, and can barely stand up anymore and is practically falling apart." Once-ler said simply with a careless shrug as he moved his feet down from his desk and sat up completely, leaning forward on the desk. "Why else?"_

_The Lorax's face softened a little looking Once-ler in the eyes and holding out his hands. "But people LIVE THERE Beanpole! Wh-What about you Uncle Ed and Aunt Sarah?! They still live there don't they?!" He said, hoping this would knock some sense into the Thneed inventor._

_"I'll buy them a NEW HOUSE in MY TOWN, then." Once-ler said in a hardened tone and swirled his chair around to face it's back to The Lorax. "In THNEEDVILLE. It'll be opening in a few days so it won't be an issue."_

_The Lorax frowned, eventually sighing and shaking his head. "You just don't get it, do you Beanpole..?"_

_"Get WHAT? What speech are you going to give me THIS TIME?"_

_"...Just think this over." Is all he said before hopping off of the desk and walking away. A knock on the office door was heard, a young woman with blonde hair and green eyes looking inside, holding a clipboard in her hands. " -ler, sir?" She asked._

_"Yes, Miss Daphne?" Once-ler asked, his tone sounding a bit more lighter and a smile crossing his face faintly as he put out the cigar stub and tossed it aside. "What's on the up and up?"_

_Daphne smiled a bit, entering the room more and the doors closed behind her. "I've just come to remind you that the meeting you've had scheduled for 3:00 has been moved to 4:30." She said, hugging the clipboard to her chest. "If it's an inconvenience I can always call and try to persuade then to push the time back to its original slot..?"_

_"Nah, nah! It's fine!" Once-ler said with a wave of his hand and stretched. "It'll give me time to catch a nap anyhow."_

_Daphne smiled again and nodded, closing her eyes. "Alright, I'll leave you be then." She said before turning to leave out of his office._

_"Just be sure to wake me up!" Once-ler chuckled as he slumped down into his chair and closed his eyes, going into a careless sleep._

"Once? Once can you hear me..?" A soft and familiar voice called out to him.

Once-ler snapped back into reality, his senses snapping together so quickly he could have practically heard the click of it in his head. "What, huh, what?" He asked as he looked around at his surroundings quickly.

"Are you alright..?" Two concerned green eyes met with his.

Once-ler leaned back a little from the green eyes, his own blue eyes widening a little with surprise. "Uh, yeah I'm okay..." He said slowly with a small nod. "Why're you asking..?"

She smiled a bit, tilting her head. "You looked kinda frozen for a second." She said, hugging something close to her chest. "Do you need to take a nap or something?"

Once-ler shook his head quickly, laughing awkwardly at the strange de ja vu experience he was having. "Nope, nope, nope!" He said. "I'm good!"

Daisy sighed with a smile. "Alright, good." She said. "Because you've been acting a bit strange today..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" Once-ler said quickly with a smile and wave of his hand. "Trust me!"

"Alright, alright. Do you want to go home? Because I can tell there's something up with you and Riverston..."

"Err...yeah, that'd probably be a good idea..." Once-ler said with a small laugh. He slowly began to walk down the walkway backwards, giving Daisy a small two fingered salute. "I'll see you later when I'm...not acting like a total weirdo..."

Daisy giggled, closing her eyes again and saluting back. "It's alright." She said.

Once-ler nodded slowly with a small and embarrassed laugh as he slowly backtracked to the sidewalk. He suddenly bolted off, holding onto his fedora with one hand making sure it wouldn't fly off of his head as he ran. "Man, it's only my second day in Thneedville and it's ALREADY starting to go downhill?!" He muttered through his teeth.

That's when he suddenly felt something run into his long legs, causing him to trip over it and crash into the sidewalk.

"Whoa!" Once-ler cried as he roughly landed on the sidewalk and quickly looked back behind himself to see what had tripped him. "What the-?! MUSTACHE?!"

And of course there he saw The Lorax, a very frightened seeming Lorax. "Beanpole! Quick! You gotta hide!"

"What? Why?" Once-ler asked with a frown as he propped himself up on the sidewalk. "And why're you so JUMPY?"

The Lorax glanced around frantically and suddenly gasped, grabbing Once-ler and dragging him over to hide behind a bush. "SHHH!"

"Ow, ow, HEY! What in the word is WRONG with you?!"

That's when Once-ler saw Samuel running up the sidewalk and coming to a stop in front of the bush The Lorax and Once-ler were hiding behind, sighing bitterly as he placed his hands on his hips. "Bother...I've lost him again. That Lorax is rather good at getting the slip... No matter! Finding -ler is real goal anyway!" He said with an amused smile as he continued to run down the sidewalk. "Where to look, where to look..." Was the last thing the two heard him say before he disappeared around a corner.

The Lorax let out a loud sigh of relief, closing his eyes. "Oh boy..." He muttered.

Once-ler's eyes were three times their size as he slowly looked down at The Lorax, dumbfounded. "Don't tell me...was that by chance a REPORTER..?"

The Lorax nodded, groaning.

Once-ler let out an annoyed groan himself, placing a hand over his eyes as he faced his head towards the sky. "I don't believe it...that Cleo kid was RIGHT..."

The Lorax looked at Once-ler after he cautiously stepped out from behind the bush, glancing around. "As long as he's gone..."

"This is really bad..." Once-ler said slowly as he rose up to his feet. He looked around for a moment before he began to walk down the sidewalk again briskly. "Come on, Mustache! We're going to Ted's house!"

The Lorax raised an eyebrow, quickly following after Once-ler, looking up at him. "Are you sure that's a good idea Beanpole? That kid's going to look for you there first again!" He said, glancing around again.

"We're just going to WARN him about this reporter so he's not taken by surprise and isn't tricked into telling anything!" Once-ler said as he glanced down at The Lorax. "I've dealt with situations like these all the time before so don't worry."

The Lorax rolled his eyes, hurrying after Once-ler. "Whatever you say Beanpole."

"THANK YOU."

It wasn't very long until they had reached Ted's house, Once-ler practically leaping over the steps to reach the door. He was about to knock when he realized...

"Ted's mom and grandmother!" Once-ler face palmed. "They can't see you!"

The Lorax glanced around, then up at Once-ler with big eyes, shoulders raised. "Where do I go then?!" He asked.

"I don't KNOW!" Once-ler snapped as he looked down at The Lorax with a quick shrug. He let out a loud and annoyed sigh, closing his eyes and placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "See, TODAY is a great example of WHY I didn't want to come here in the first place!" He yelled, his whole personality switching like a light switching on and off.

The Lorax crossed his arms and frowned. "And to were ENJOYING yourself too Beanpole!" He reminded him.

"I KNOW, mustache, I KNOW..." Once-ler groaned as he rubbed the temples of his head and closed his eyes. "Yesterday was GREAT but I mean TODAY it's just...been...GAH!" He huffed as he slumped down on the steps and buried his face into his arms with a small sigh. "It's starting to get complicated, I mean I had an ANXIETY ATTACK at Daisy's house and then after THAT I kept getting flashbacks, and it's starting to drive me NUTS."

The Lorax's face softened gently as he listened to Once-ler list the problems of today. He placed his furry hand on the young man's knee, smiling. "Don't worry Beanpole..." He tried his best to comfort. "Maybe you're just homesick..?"

Once-ler shrugged. "I dunno...but I think Daisy might be the one triggering the flashbacks for sure..." He frowned a little, squinting an eye as he thought when he lifted his head. "She looked...a LOT like Daphne...almost EXACTLY..."

The Lorax furrowed a brow, looking up at Once-ler. "Daphne..?" He asked.

Once-ler stared at The Lorax for a moment, opening his mouth to speak. He instead let out a sigh and smiled, slapping his knees with a shake of his head. "Nothing...forget I said anything." He said his tone now calmer and mellow and motioned towards the side of the house. "Go hide somewhere quick, okay? I'll figure out a way to get you inside somehow."

The Lorax nodded slowly, squinting his eyes faintly as he began to walk off to find a place to hide. "Easy for you to say."

"Mustache..."

"Okay, okay fine!"

Once-ler rolled his eyes with a small sigh before he rushed over towards the door again and abruptly planted his feet to the ground to a stop. He quickly rang the doorbell, leaning back once in a while to peer over in an attempt to see what The Lorax was up to.

And what he saw proved to be rather amusing. The guardian of the forest rolled on the grass and scanned the area quickly before rolling again, out of Once-ler's view. Too much James Bond influence?

The Once-ler snickered and slapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing, shaking his head with closed eyes. "What was THAT?" He muttered to himself before the door began to open, revealing it to be to Once-ler's surprise; Ted. "Ted! You're home, I thought you'd be at school still, what're you doing at home?" He asked with a furrowed brow.

Ted laughed, peering his head out and looking around with a small smile, raising an eyebrow when he looked back up at Once-ler. "Well um...it does SATURDAY, Once...so...no school, remember?"

"It IS? I thought it was Monday..."

"No, uh...it's Saturday."

"Huh..." Once-ler marveled, squinting an eye. He quickly shook his head and waved a hand down with a frown. "Okay, wait, wait anyway! Ted, is your mom home?!" He asked as he quickly walked inside the house and closed the door behind himself. "Or did this Samuel reporter come by or anything today?!"

"Uh no..?" Ted said, squinting an eye as he watched Once-ler enter his home. "She'll be home any minute from the store though. Why are you asking...?"

"Because he's figured out that me and The Lorax are here in Thneedville!" Once-ler replied as he rushed up the steps. "I'll explain everything later; right now just help me get the furry meatloaf inside!"

Ted furrowed a brow out of confusion by nodded his head, following after Once-ler. "Alright! But why don't we just use the front DOOR?!"

The sound of a car pulling up was suddenly heard, catching the two's attention. There outside with Audrey was Samuel, and by the way he was rushidley walking up the walkway to Ted's home, it was obvious today he meant business.

"That would be why." Once-ler said, his blue eyes wide. He continued his way up the steps, sliding a little as he rounded the small bend to the hallway. "Distract him, Ted!"

"G-Got it!" Ted called, quickly rushing back down the stairs to the door.

Once-ler quickly rushed down the hallway into Ted's room, knowing that it was the only room with a window from on the back of the house. He quickly peered out, eyes wide. "Mustache!"

And there he saw none other than The Lorax, stacking up lawn chairs and decorations.

"M-Mustache, what are you—ah forget it there isn't time for that!" Once-ler said quickly as he climbed out of the window and stood up on the platform. He motioned for the forest guardian to reach his hands up as he leaned forward and let himself dangle by his torso. "Take my hand, the reporter's here!"

The Lorax's eyes widened, quickly hopping up onto the lawn chairs and reaching a hand out. "Then why are we hiding in TED'S ROOM..?!" He yelled in a hushed voice.

"YOU'RE hiding!" Once-ler replied in a hushed voice, reaching down a little more and taking The Lorax by the hand. "I'M confronting this reporter, I already had a backup plan in mind!"

The Lorax sighed loudly and hung his head. "Oh boy..."

"What NOW?!" Once-ler snapped, his face tensing with annoyance.

"Nothing." The Lorax responded in a not-so-pleasant tone.

"NO! It is NOT NOTHING!" Once-ler retorted, still in a hushed tone as his face tensed with anger. "WHAT is it?!"

"Just get me up here, Beanpole!"

Once-ler stared at The Lorax for a long time, his brows knit together and expression mixed with baffled and irritation. Eventually he said, in a dark and vindictive tone; "Get YOURSELF UP,"

When The Lorax looked up, the young man's eyes glimmered green for a moment as he stared down at him before making his way back inside Ted's room. The Lorax's eyes widened, staring up at the small balcony. "Oh no..." He said to himself in disbelief. "Not NOW.!" And with that, The Lorax quickly jumped off the pile of garden decorations, making a run for the front of the house.

Once-ler strode down the hallway in a huff, muttering bitterly and angrily to himself as he made his way to the steps. "Treating me like I'm a CHILD, I'm NOT the same man of who I was ALL THOSE YEARS AGO—WOAH!" He suddenly felt his body fall forward, landing flat on his face. "Ow! Wh-What in the WORLD—" His eyes widened with horror and he stopped short when he looked back, seeing what made himself slip. Once-ler's LEGS...why did they...?! They were turning a sappy pitch black, slowly and sluggishly melting away like sap.

"Wha...What's going on...?!"

"Beanpole!" A hushed voice suddenly called, The Lorax being seen through an open window, struggling to pull himself through.

Once-ler's eyes widened when he saw the forest guardian slip and waver, nearly falling. His jaw fixed as he slowly forced himself up to his feet, instantly falling to his knees for his feet were no longer solid. "H-Hang on...I-I'm coming..." He whispered as he dragged himself across the hallway to the window, holding out a hand. "Can you reach?"

The Lorax nodded his head, reaching his hand out and just touching with Once-ler's.

"Come on, come on..." Once-ler muttered, his eyes wide as he suddenly felt his arm go numb and slowly begin to turn the same sappy pitch black. He shut his eyes tight as he forced himself to reach.

"Almost...there, come on..."

Then two small hands suddenly grasped onto his outstretched hand, Once-ler pulling The Lorax in as quickly as he could, the sap like substance growing.

He felt his body suddenly go limp as he fell onto his side. Slowly looking up at The Lorax in panic, he let out a whine of discomfort when his hair began to ever so slowly drip down, his bangs dripping onto his face. "Mustache...wh-what's going on..?"

The Lorax quickly looked up and down Once-ler ever so disgustingly changing body, eyes wide with panic. "This is not good..." He muttered, ignoring what the young man had just asked him. The Lorax looked up at Once-ler, his eyebrows arched up a little. "Now do you understand why you need to listen to me?" He asked. "If you don't follow the RULES, THIS will happen!"

Once-ler frowned quickly, his eyebrows arching up with fear with a quick shake of his head. "I-I don't understand..!"

The Lorax sighed, grabbing Once-ler's wrist briefly before letting it go. "You see, with the forces of nature, there are some FLAWS to it..." He said with a shake of his head, wiping away the sap quickly and frowning.

"F-FLAWS?" Once-ler repeated with wide eyes as he to his surprise managed to scramble to his feet again quickly, but soon felt back down, sinking down to his knees that by this point were even starting to become unstable. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the heck is that supposed to mean, meatloaf?!"

"It MEANS," The Lorax looked back at Once-ler. "That there's a little AFTEREFFECT to the sap. It turns you young but there's a catch. Repeat the same awful habits that lead to you becoming the same greedy man you once were," He motioned towards Once-ler's hands. "You start turning to ink and sap. Or in better terms; the embodiment of GREED."

Once-ler's eyes slowly widened. "Wh-What..?" He muttered shakily. "B-But I-I'm not going t-to chop anymore tr-trees and never go back to how I used to be, I-I SAID I wouldn't, I PROMISED..!"

"That doesn't matter." The forest guardian stated, his face softening. "A little bit of greed left in your heart is all it takes. You probably didn't even realize it, but you have allowed greed and all that bad and negative stuff into your heart already."

Once-ler shakily gasped, his eyes beginning to water out of fear and his lip quivered. "A-Am I going t-to turn into one of those things..?" He whimpered.

The Lorax sighed, closing his eyes. "You could." He admitted regretfully.

Once-ler's face slowly tensed up and he shakily bit his bottom lip as tears began to stream down his face thickly, hiccupping once in a while and taking in a shaky breath. "I-I-I don't..! I-I'm not..!" He whimpered. "I-I c-can CH-CHANGE, r-really, I-I've done th-that a lot a-already, though..! C-Can't this be reversed?!" Once-ler asked pleadingly as he rubbed his arms with his inky hands for a moment forgetting for a moment that they were such and leaving the sticky residue on his arms. He let out a small cry of fear when the ink began to crawl down his arms from where he rubbed them to his wrists, now both of his arms dripping with the sappy ink. "M-Mustache..!"

"Okay okay okay!" The Lorax waved his hands down, looking Once-ler in the eyes. "Beanpole you need to CALM DOWN first okay?"

Once-ler stared at The Lorax and began to sob out of fear, his eyes watering heavily and tears running down all over his face as his body slumped forward with a loud shlop, his torso now slowly being covered with the ink sap. "I-I can't..!" He sobbed. "I-I can't c-calm d-down, I-I'm scared..!"

"Well you NEED TO! Or else you're going to become a GREEDLING!"

Once-ler continued on sobbing for a moment as he attempted to force his breathing to calm down and his trembles to stop. Eventually he did calm down; his tears still flowing down his face as the ink sap slowly crawled down his torso and up his neck.

"Alright, now...PROMISE ME, that you'll listen to what I say and ASK of you."

"I-I PROMISE..!" Once-ler whimpered as he held up an inky hand and nodded his head. "I-I promise, I promise, I promise, I REALLY REALLY REALLY PROMISE..!" His blue eyes suddenly widened a little more, his head dropping face first on the floor. The ink slowly continued to consume The Once-ler's body for a moment before slowly slipping off of him, a silhouette figure of a tall, long legged business man forming on the floor. It waved a finger towards The Lorax for a moment and pointed to Once-ler before slipping away down the hall and silently slipping up the wall and out the open window, almost as thought to say;_" You won this round"_.

The Lorax frowned deeply, watching as the figure slipped away. His face softened as he looked back at Once-ler. He walked closer to him, lifting the young man's hair out of his face a little. "Beanpole..?"

There was a moment of silence. Then, Once-ler's head slowly lifted off the floor, letting out a quiet groggy groan. "Mustache..?" He mumbled. "What...what just happened...?"

The Lorax smiled faintly, patting Once-ler's head gently. "Don't worry about it." He said, his eyebrows arching up a bit as he heard Ted begin to protest to someone with a British accent, a door slamming shut soon after. "But then again...we MIGHT have to worry about THAT."

* * *

**YELLOW! x3 BET NOBODY SAW THAT COMING DID YA!? Don't even bother asking what's going on or what's gonna happen next because I shan't tell! :D Me and K LOOOOOOOOVE keeping you guys in suspense. Aren't we evil? ALRIGHTY, TIME FOR OUR LOVELY CAST; **

_**CHARACTER CHART; Main Cast:**_

_**The Once-ler: Isabel**_

_**Daisy Belle: Kayla**_

_**Ted W.: Kayla**_

_**The Lorax: Kayla**_

_**Samuel The Reporter: Isabel**_

_**Audrey: Kayla**_

_**CHARACTER CHART: Side Characters;**_

_**Ímma: Isabel **_

_**Daphne(Flashback): Kayla**_

**UNTIL NEXT TIME! AND CONGRATS; AS OF NOW YOU HAVE READ 44 PAGES SO FAR!  
**


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